Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said on Monday its subsidiary in Nigeria, SPDC, had lifted the suspension of crude oil export from the west African country following a pipeline explosion that had initially cut production by 180,000 barrels per day.

"The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria Ltd. has lifted the Force Majeure it declared on Bonny Light Crude Oil Export Program at Bonny Terminal as a result of the pipeline explosion at Opobo Channel," a company statement said.

"This follows repairs to most of the facilities which were affected in the explosion and an adjustment to internal crude oil supply arrangements," it said.

The pipeline explosion, caused by a dynamite attack carried out by unknown persons, occurred on December 20 at the Opobo Channel, 50 km southwest of the southern Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt.

It affected crude supply of about 180,000 barrels per day to the terminal and in view of the damage, the SPDC declared a Force Majeure in the following day. The motive of the attack still remains unknown and Shell said government officials and security agencies are still investigating the sabotage.

The oil giant gave the assurance in the statement that "there will be no disruption to the January and February Agreed Offtake Programs as a result of the explosion."

Shell is the biggest player in Nigeria's oil field, accounting for almost half of the west African country's daily output of 2.5 million barrels.

Source: Xinhua