The oil major, Shell’s Nigeria subsidiary, Shell Production Development Company (SPDC), declared force majeure on Bonny Light crude oil loadings from Monday after a key pipeline closed.

Even as crude oil futures rose slightly on Friday as downward pressures on U.S. inventories and resumption of Iranian nuclear talks collided with the ongoing narrative of a severe oil market deficit. .

“(SPDC) declared a force majeure on the Bonny oil and gas terminal offtake program as of 5:00 p.m. Nigeria time (4:00 p.m. GMT) on Monday, October 25, 2021, following the closure of the line Nembe Creek Main (NCTL) by operator Aiteo. Exploration and Production Limited, “said the Shell spokesperson.

The Bonny Light crude oil program was set at 95,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November and 123,000 bpd in December.

The grade reaches the export terminal via two pipelines – the NCTL and the Trans Niger pipeline.

The December Brent futures contract rose 21 cents / bbl by 0.25% from the previous close at $ 84.53 / bbl, while the December light crude contract rose 6 cents / bbl from 0.07% to $ 82.87 / b.

Crude prices have seen wild intra-day swings of nearly 3% this week amid a multitude of bullish and bearish reports, but were otherwise on course to end the week slightly lower by around 1% .

Analysts said that while sentiment is under pressure from building large stocks in the United States and the potential return of Iranian oil as Iran and Western powers return to the negotiating table, the current narrative of a tight supply market has not disappeared.

“The oil market deficit that is in place is not going to change anytime soon despite recent bearish headlines of increasing COVID cases in Eastern Europe and Asia, potentially additional production from Iran and expectations that it won’t be a particularly bad winter for the North, ”said Edward Moya, Senior Market Analyst at OANDA.

Power cuts in Libya and Nigeria also bottomed prices.

In Libya, the country’s Es Sider crude production fell 72% and will continue to decline for 10 days due to a pipeline leak. Waha Oil currently produces 77,000 b / d of Es Sider crude, down from production capacity of 285,000 b / d, state-owned National Oil Corp. said. in an October 27 press release.

In Nigeria, Shell declared force majeure on Bonny Light crude loads on Oct. 25 due to the shutdown of the Nembe Creek Mainline, a key grade pipeline, a spokesperson said on Oct. 27. October.

Meanwhile, OPEC and its allies appear poised to reaffirm their intention to increase crude production by 400,000 bpd in December after an advisory committee found no major changes in supply outlook. and market demand, despite calls from major consumers to further increase production to bring three-year high oil prices under control.

The OPEC + joint technical committee met on October 28 in preparation for the November 4 meeting of coalition ministers to review the action plan for December, where production is expected to increase by 400,000 bpd, according to a July agreement.