US oil giant, Exxon Mobil has declared force majeure on crude oil liftings from its terminals in Nigeria due to workers union strike.
A statement from Exxon Mobil on Monday, April18, confirmed the action.
It is not very clear the nature of the industrial action but Exxon Mobil has been trying to sell off $1.2billion in shallow water and onshore assets which could lead to redundancies and layoffs for the affected workers.
The company says the planned sales are necessary due to the challenging operational conditions the shallow water assets pose to the company. Exxon Mobil is concentrating its hold and investments in deep water assets in Nigeria.
Oil production volumes in Nigeria has seen a steady rise compared to 2022 figures mainly due to stoppage of widespread theft of crude from pipelines. The theft and corruption issues contributed to the country losing the number producing status briefly to Angola.
Production figures fell as low as 1 million barrels in the third quarter of 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, in particular, February, the production figures had risen to 1.3million barrels per day.
