Italian oil major Eni SpA (E) has declared force majeure on 15,000 to 18,000 barrels a day of its share of Nigeria crude output, a spokesman for the company told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.
The move, which provides the company with legal protection for not meeting its contractual obligations with customers, follows damage to a pipeline from its Brass River oil field.
The company said it had not yet established the cause of the damage to the pipeline.
Traders of West African crude estimated production from the Brass River facility at around 160,000 barrels of oil a day in January.