Reuters - Nigeria needs until June to repair Forcados pipeline - Kachikwu

Repair work on a Nigerian pipeline feeding the key Forcados export terminal will last until June, the country's oil minister said on Wednesday, confirming a Reuters report from last week. "The line won't be ready until June," Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told reporters.

Unknown gunmen attacked the pipeline run by Royal Dutch Shell in February, reducing Nigeria's oil output by some 250,000 barrels a day.

Kachikwu also said Africa's top crude producer hoped to sign by July agreements with foreign partners to overhaul its three outdated refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.

Shell defies court order to halt production in Bayelsa state - officials

Royal Dutch Shell has failed to halt production at the Gbaran Ubie oil and gas facility in southern Nigeria, contravening a court order for the site to be sealed and raising the prospect of legal action, state government officials said on Wednesday.

A Reuters reporter spoke to workers at the plant who also said production had continued.

A Shell (RDSa.L) spokesman declined to comment.

The facility, in the oil-rich southern Niger Delta region, supplies the Bonny liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal and also helps generate electricity, which is scarce in Africa's top oil producer and most populous nation.

On Monday, the Bayelsa state government said the premises had been sealed up for operating without a permit and staff had been evicted.