Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell said Wednesday it had halted 100,000 barrels per day of output at Nigeria's EA offshore field in order to carry out repairs of key equipment. The company said in a statement the "EA field offshore western Niger Delta has been temporarily shut down as a precaution to enable repairs to equipment which connects the Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility Sea Eagle with the mooring platform."
It said the equipment in question was scheduled to be overhauled in May this year, but bad weather, including a storm on March 26, had forced the exercise to be brought forward. Shell, one of the top oil operators in Nigeria has seen much of its output slashed because of unrest in the country's restive oil-producing region over the past three-and-a half years.
In 2009, the output of Shell-run operations in Nigeria, including joint-ventures, averaged 629.000 bpd, according to the company, down from the 850,000 bpd it produced in 2008. Oil is Nigeria's economic mainstay, raking in some 95 percent of export earning.