Perenco Declares Force Majeure after Oil Terminal Leak in Gabon
Anglo-French oil company Perenco has declared force majeure for 150 days following a leak at its Cap Lopez oil terminal in Gabon last week, a company spokesperson said on Friday.
Overall production shut down is estimated at 50,000 barrels of oil per day, the spokesman said.
The company expects production to restart within weeks, but with reduced storage capacity. The terminal normally receives 130,000 barrels of oil per day.
"We are temporarily re-routing production to the Oguendjo Terminal, although some production is still shut down as some fields are not connected to this Terminal," the spokesman said.
Perenco said on April 30 that it had shut the terminal near Port Gentil after a storage tank leaked more than 300,000 barrels of oil.
The cause of the spill was not yet clear and Perenco has opened an investigation.
(Reporting by Nellie Peyton;Editing by James Macharia Chege)