Shell has shut a key oil pipeline in southern Nigeria to stop a leak caused by oil theft and sabotage, a spokesman said yesterday, without disclosing the volume of output loss. “We closed the Nembe Creek Trunkline on Sunday for the removal of crude theft points,” spokesman Precious Okolobo told AFP. Shell has deployed engineers to repair the pipeline in the Niger Delta region, which feeds the Bonny exports terminal and would reopen “as soon as repair works are completed,” he added. Oil majors do not usually give information on production losses. Local media in Nigeria estimated that about 95,000 barrels of crude per day might have been shut in as a result of the closure. Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer, accounting for more than two million barrels per day. Crude oil theft or “bunkering” is a major problem in Nigeria, with estimates that the country loses some $6 […]