Shell shuts down production at Nigerian oil field: spokesman

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

LAGOS (AFP) — Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell halted production Thursday at a major offshore oil facility in Nigeria because of a militant attack, a spokesman told AFP.

"We shut down production at the Bonga oilfield following an attack by unknown militants this morning," Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo said.

The attack was the latest in a series targetting the oil major.

Last week, Shell said it would not be able to honour June and July contracts from its Bonny terminal after a militant group sabotaged its key crude supply pipelines back in April.

Shell had already declared a force majeure for April and May deliveries following the attack by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Violence in the southern Delta region has...