Chevron declares force majeure at Angola's Kuito

U.S. oil major Chevron said on Friday that Angolan subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company had declared force majeure at the Kuito offshore oil terminal on October 29 due to a fault with a mooring line.

Chevron is one of the west African country's top producers and typically loads two 920,000 barrel tankers a month from its Kuito platform.

"The Kuito operation is currently undergoing a planned turnaround, and we do not anticipate any resulting production impacts from this action," a company spokesman said in an emailed statement, without giving an immediate comment on the duration of the force majeure.

He added that a mooring line had separated from a loading buoy during a routine inspection.

Angolan loading programs showed that Chevron was due to load just one 920,000 barrel tanker in November, reflecting the impact of the maintenance work.

A force majeure allows a company to suspend contractual obligations in the face of unexpected events.

OPEC member Angola is Africa's second largest producer after Nigeria and typically exports around 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil.

Exports for November are slightly lower than average at around 1.67 million bpd, partly due to lower Kuito output and lower volumes on the Girassol grade.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul in London, editing by William Hardy and Jason Neely)