(Adds impact on Nigeria production)
By Ron Bousso and Libby George
FLORENCE/LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Trans ForcadosPipeline which has been shut for most of the last year couldreopen "towards the end of the second quarter", Seplat Chief Executive Austin Avuru said.
The pipeline, operated by the Nigerian Petroleum DevelopmentCompany (NPDC), has been hit by several militant attacks, thefirst on a subsea section in February.
Although it reopened briefly in the autumn after months ofrepairs, further attacks meant the pipeline quickly closedagain.
Sources have told Reuters that while repairs are againunderway, a lasting resumption on the pipeline would be nearlyimpossible without a broader deal with militants in the restiveDelta region.
"We have a lot of locked-in production which we intend tounlock by exploring various other means...beyond the TransForcados," Avuru told Reuters on Monday on the sidelines of theGE Oil and Gas annual meeting", adding the company is looking atthe Escravos export avenue as one option.
Seplat, a Nigerian oil and gas exploration company that islisted on the London and Lagos stock exchanges, typicallyproduces 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) which is exported eithervia the Forcados export terminal or the Warri refinery.
The outage of Forcados crude oil, with more than 200,000 bpdof capacity, has been a blow for the companies such as Seplatand Royal Dutch Shell that produce or export it and also for theNigerian government, which has been starved of revenue.
Nigeria's production hit a 22-year low in May after a spateof attacks. Though it has since edged closer to its 2.2 millionbpd capacity, the absence of Forcados is a major issue.
Seplat and NPDC, with the help of oil trader Mercuria, havebeen exporting from the Warri refinery roughly 20,000 bpd ofcrude from fields that usually go via the pipeline. This oil,dubbed Forcados Light due to specifications that have variedfrom the standard Forcados grade, have been exported via Warrisince at least May.
The avenue is limited, and more complicated and expensive,than exporting via the Trans Forcados Pipeline, but the oil hasfound markets in Europe, the United States and West Africa.
"On the whole we think that into the second half of the yearwe should be back to decent production," Avuru said. (Editing by Jason Neely and Ruth Pitchford)
