Conflict in the Niger Delta Jonathan’s defeat in the March 2015 elections, the amnesty program seems likely to end in December 2015 and with patronage to former militant leaders terminated, local discontent is deepening. A February 2016 explosion in a pipeline operated by Shell Petroleum Development Corporation, a Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary to the Shell Forcados export terminal halted both production and imports. Speculation centered on militants using divers. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the minister of state for petroleum and the head of Nigeria’s oil company, said Nigerian production was down 300,000 barrels a day as a result. On May 11 Shell closed its Bonny oil
Brass River vessels of draft. It was often used by merchant steamers trading on the Niger, since the entrance of the Brass was easier than that of the Nun. Many factories lay on the east shore of the Brass just inside the entrance, handling the extensive trade in palm oil and ivory. At that time Akedo, about above cape Nun, was the market place for traders from the Brass river. The town of Twon-Brass lies near the mouth of the Brass River. This was a slaving port in the early 19th century, and later a collection point for palm oil and kernels.