Brass River In 2005 the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) was producing oil from 146 wells, and operated an export terminal at Brass River. Brass River Crude Oil is a sweet medium light crude. In the 17th and 18th centuries the Portuguese controlled the Brass River, which was closed to British traders and was an outlet for shipping slaves to the Americas. The town of Brass was inaccessible, reached only via the creeks. After 1807 the British began trying to suppress the slave trade. Don Pablo Frexas, in alliance with the chiefs of Brass and Bonny, was the main organizer of the
Nigerian Civil War of 250,000 pounds. The news of this payment reached the Federal government, which immediately extended the shipping embargo to oil tankers The Nigerian government also made it clear to Shell-BP that it expected the company to pay all outstanding oil royalty immediately. With the stalling on the payment for Biafra government ask Shell-BP to stop operations in Biafra and took over from the company. Towards the end of July 1967, Nigerian federal troops and marines captured Bonny Island in the Niger Delta, thereby taking control of vital Shell-BP facilities. Operations began again in May 1968, when Nigeria captured Port Harcourt.