Oil spillage disrupts Exxon Mobil operation at Qua Iboe

Exxon Mobil has shut a pipeline off the coast of Akwa Ibom state after an oil leak started by an unknown cause.

The outage faced by the US oil company will add to production problems, after fellow oil majors Shell and Eni reported recent disruptions at onshore sites due to Nigeria’s worst flooding in 50 years.

Exxon in an e-mail stated that the source of the leak has been identified and the pipeline has been isolated and shutdown. The company adds that it is investigating the cause of the leak.

There was an oil spill in August near an Exxon facility that residents said left a slick running for miles along the coastline of Akwa Ibom.

Exxon said it cleared up the spill but didn’t confirm the source of the leak.

Italian oil firm Eni said on Friday that it had declared force majeure on Brass River oil loadings from Nigeria due to floods, which have submerged part of the southern oil-producing Niger Delta in recent weeks.