Eighteen months after shutting down its operations in western Niger Delta, comprising Delta and Bayelsa states, due to alleged militancy which claimed two of its workers, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has returned to its abandoned facilities and is said to be carrying out minor repairs with a view to resuming full production.

Shell had, in February last year, announced it was shutting down production in its western fields and evacuated its personnel from several facilities for safety reasons. This was after suffering a series of coordinated attacks on its facilities, especially its pipelines by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Following extensive re-entry consultations and meetings with host communities and government, Shell finally secured the approval of the host communities to resume operations in the shut facilities. A senior Shell media official, Mr. Aoiri Obaigbo at a special re-entry seminar for the press in Delta, Edo and Bayelsa states in Warri on Tuesday, said the re-entry would only be deemed to be successful when his company begins production at the same capacity it had prior to the shut down. He said about 477,000 barrels of crude oil was shut-in or deferred daily following the closure of its western operations in the Niger Delta.