A six-week-long blockade of ExxonMobil’s offices and oil facilities in Nigeria by former workers protesting their dismissals now threatens the normal production and exports of Nigeria’s flagship Qua Iboe crude grade, the U.S. supermajor, operator of the oilfields producing Qua Iboe, said on Sunday. “The continued blockade means a loss of access for employees [and contractors]. Continued denial of access to production facilities could impact the company’s ability to safely continue production operations,” S&P Global Platts quoted ExxonMobil as saying in a statement. Exxon is the operator with a 40-percent stake of the fields producing the Qua Iboe grade. The fields are located 20-40 miles offshore Nigeria’s southeastern region. The oil is pumped to the shore via a seabed pipeline system to the Qua Iboe terminal, and production and exports average around 320,000 bpd. Due to its qualities of light crude containing very low levels of sulfur, the Qua […]