LAGOS (AFP) – Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell said on Wednesday it had resumed exports of crude from its Nigeria’s Forcados terminal after repairs to a damaged supply pipeline.

Shell’s Nigerian joint venture said “the force majeure which had been declared on Forcados loadings, following completion of repairs on the Trans Forcados Pipeline,” was lifted on Tuesday.

Force majeure, a legal term releasing a company from contractual obligations owing to circumstances beyond its control, was declared on Forcados loadings on October 10 as a result of production shutdown due to a sabotage leak on the Trans Forcados Pipeline.

Pipeline damage and associated spills are common in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta region as a result of oil theft to feed the lucrative black market.

Militants claiming to be fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue have also regularly blown up pipelines, though such attacks have reduced since a 2009 amnesty deal.

Shell also reported on Wednesday that there had been 10 additional oil bunkering incidents in the eastern Niger Delta since it shut down production from Imo River in August, leading to an output loss of 25,000 barrels per day.

Theft of crude is commonly referred to as “bunkering” in Nigeria.

“An overfly showed unknown persons had drilled holes and installed valves to transfer crude to waiting barges and trucks, in the process, polluting farm lands and water bodies,” Shell said.

“This is why we call for concerted efforts to help stop this criminal activity which not only puts the lives of the perpetrators and the public at risk but causes severe environmental impact and impacts the communities in the area,” senior Shell official Tony Attah was quoted as saying.

Shell, one of Nigeria’s major oil operators, has seen frequent shut-ins in recent years.

Environmental campaigners say oil firms such as Shell have not done enough to prevent such incidents.

A UN report in August said decades of oil pollution in the Ogoniland area of the Niger Delta, located in Rivers state, may require the world’s largest ever cleanup.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, accounting for more than two million barrels of crude per day.