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Reuters: Shell calls force majeure on Nigeria EA oilfield: Tuesday 17 January 2006

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) has declared force majeure on its 115,000 barrels per day EA oilfield in Nigeria, a spokeswoman said.

"The technical failure on the EA field, which caused production to stop, has not been resolved. We have called force majeure effective from today," she said.

Earlier on Monday, an industry source said the field had been shut and that the problem was unrelated to an attack on the offshore field last week when four oil workers were abducted.

On Friday, Shell declared force majeure on 106,000 bpd of Forcados crude oil exports after suspected vandals broke a major pipeline.

Force majeure releases the company from its contractual export commitments.

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