Total Declares Force Majeure in Angola
July 19th, 2007Via: Bloomberg:
Crude oil rose to an 11-month high in New York after Total SA lost production and declared force majeure at the Dalia field in Angola.
Total’s decision covered half the oil pumped at the offshore field, which had produced 240,000 barrels a day, said Patricia Marie, a company spokeswoman. A generator failure caused the problem. Oil also gained because the U.S. government said gasoline stockpiles fell last week as imports plunged and demand climbed.
The Total news has pushed oil higher “because it’s a serious supply cut,” said Jon House, a crude oil trader with Macquarie Bank Ltd. in London. The U.S. “stats were bullish.”
Crude oil for August delivery gained as much as 66 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $75.71 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded at $75.55 at 11:59 a.m. in London.
Oil companies working in Africa have faced a series of disruptions in the past year. Militant attacks shut down about a quarter of the production in Nigeria, the continent’s biggest producer. A fire cut output from Total’s N’kossa field in the Republic of Congo, which was due to resume on Aug. 1.
Force majeure, a legal measure that exempts a company from fulfilling a contract because of circumstances beyond its control, was declared at the Angola field yesterday, Marie said. It should be lifted in one or two days, she said.
