LONDON/ABUJA, March 5 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell declared force majeure on the Nigerian Bonny Light crude oilgrade on Tuesday due to a leak on a pipeline, a dayafter warning it may need to close the line altogether becauseof oil theft.
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) declared theforce majeure on the Bonny Light offtake programme at 1500 GMTfollowing the shutdown of Nembe Creek Trunkline after a leak wasobserved on Sunday, Shell said in a statement.
Shell's country head warned on Monday that it may be forcedto completely shut down the 150,000 barrel per day Nembe Creek pipeline because of "unprecedented" levels of theft.
SPDC is a joint venture with the Nigerian state oil firmNNPC holding 55 percent, Shell 30 percent, Total 10percent and Eni 5 percent. Shell operates production.
"There has been a recent upsurge in crude theft activitieson NCTL, resulting in frequent production shutdown and massiveoil spills blighting the environment," the statement said.
It said that between Feb. 22-25, flow stations feeding intothe pipeline were shut down by safety systems three times due tooil theft.
"The leak on Sunday occurred directly on the NCTL andnecessitated its immediate shut down for repairs," the statementsaid, adding that the cause would be determined by a jointinvestigation visit.
Nigeria was due to export 168,000 barrels per day of BonnyLight in March before this outage, according to shippingprogrammes.
The Nembe trunkline is one of the most important productionroutes for Africa's top crude oil exporter, feeding thebenchmark Bonny Light export terminal.
The pipeline was replaced in 2010 at a cost of $1.1 billion,Shell says.
