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
Enclaves of Forcados and Badjibo families and servants. The lease was for a renewable period of thirty years in each case, and included conditions such as a requirement to enclose the area and to forbid retail trading. The annual rent was set at one franc per year. The enclaves were mentioned in French textbooks in 1926 and described as unoccupied in 1929. The leases were not renewed at the end of the initial thirty year period. The name 'Forcados' (meaning 'forked') was given to the area by the first Portuguese slave traders to explore the Niger delta in the current Bayelsa State. The leased area