LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell saidon Friday it had declared a force majeure on Nigerian BonnyLight crude oil , just a week after it was lifted,again highlighting the West African country's seeminglyintractable problem of oil theft.
"The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd(SPDC) has again raised alarm on the increasing trend of crudeoil theft which has caused repeated closures of two keypipelines this year, resulting in deferment of up to 300,000barrels of oil per day," the company said in a statement.
Shell last Friday lifted a force majeure on Bonny Lightwhich was declared after the shutdown of the 150,000 barrel perday Trans Niger pipeline.
Africa's biggest oil exporter has been producing around 15percent below its 2.5 million bpd (bpd) capacity this year dueto widespread oil theft and leakages from ageing pipelines.
The lower supply due to the problems affecting Bonny was afactor in pushing Nigerian crude oil differentials on thebenchmark Qua Iboe grade to their highest in over twoyears last month, though they have since started to retreat.