The leak occurred on the Eastern Gas Gathering System, or EGGS-1, pipeline which supplies the bulk of Shell’s gas to the Nigeria LNG plant on Bonny Island.
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The shutdown, Vanguard learned, would force the country’s gas intake to a sharp decline by about 40 to 50 percent of the usual volume.
Condemning the drastic salary slash which is to take effect from September 1, 2016, and the manner at which they were informed, one of the Seafares, Mr Titus Aligwe, revealed that Seafarers of other nationalities within NSML were affected by only 20 per cent cut, which means giving them better consideration above indigenous staff.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc said its local unit has declared force majeure on supplies to a liquefied natural gas plant in Nigeria because of a leak in a pipeline as the OPEC member suffers from militant attacks on energy infrastructure that are hurting exports. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. holds a 49 percent share and Shell has 25.6 percent. “SPDC continues to supply gas to NLNG through other pipelines”, the spokesman added.
The declaration may impact exports from the facility, which is situated near Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Last month Shell shut the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) following a leak at Gio in Ogoniland, although a force majeure was not declared.
According to them, the manner at which they were informed was simply unjust, inhumane and partial.
He said that the Seafarers of other nationalities which includes Indians, Pakistanis, Russians, Croatians, among others were also challenging the wage cut.
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While wondering why Nigerian seafarers should earn lower than their foreign colleagues, they argued that management’s proposal is tantamount to modern day slavery, considering their years of rigorous training at Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, and another three years study in the UK.
