By Toyin Akinosho
The Nigerian independent, Eroton, has stopped evacuating its crude to the Bonny Terminal through the Nembe Creek Trunk Line.
The operator of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 18, an onshore acreage in eastern Nigeria, commenced oil barging operations (shipping its cargoes on water) from the lease, to a Floating Storage Offshore vessel on the Atlantic, in late September 2021.
Although, Eroton had planned an alternative evacuation route for its crude for the last four years, this move came almost abruptly.
The company has struggled with massive crude oil theft by vandals along the 97kilometre NCTL, the newest and yet the most persistently damaged, crude to terminal evacuation pipeline in the country.
Eroton has the capacity to produce over 40,000 Barrels of Oil Per Day, but oil delivered to the Bonny Terminal for sales was approximately 6,600BOPD in first half 2021, compared with 25,200BOPD in first half 2020, according to recent update by San Leon, a London listed company which owns 10% of the acreage.
While OPEC restrictions have been a key part of the steep reduction, “third party terminal and gathering system issues”, (San Leon’s phrasing for Bonny Terminal and NCTL) have been most responsible for the decline.
