shippingposition
  • Home
  • News
  • Editorial
    • Vox Pop
  • Maritime safety
  • Oil and Gas
  • Personality
  • Health
No Result
View All Result
shippingposition

Home » Nigeria’s Unsold Crude Glut: What’s Behind It?

Nigeria’s Unsold Crude Glut: What’s Behind It?

by Joshua
March 28, 2023
in Featured, News

By Bill Lehane (Bloomberg)

 

Nigeria is struggling to find buyers for its oil as strikes in the French refining sector and seasonal maintenance at plants elsewhere in Europe cut into the OPEC producer’s sales.

An oil tanker moored in Lagos, Nigeria.

Between 20 and 25 shipments of Nigerian crude for April loading are still searching for buyers, according to four traders specializing in the West African market. That’s a much weaker position than normal for this time of the month — when trade should be moving on to May’s barrels — and the prices the shipments can fetch are dropping, they said. Each cargo is about a million barrels of crude.

Typically one of Nigeria’s biggest buyers, France took an average of 110,000 barrels a day of Nigeria’s oil over the past year, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. But that demand has shriveled this month, with France’s overall crude imports dropping by half in March as the nationwide dispute over pension reforms escalates, according to Wood MacKenzie.

Well over 80% of France’s 1.1 million-barrels-a-day processing capacity is halted or in the process of shutting down because of the industrial action, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

In addition to the impact of the strikes, other plants in Europe are also buying less crude because of seasonal maintenance, according to the traders. Capacity is offline at some typical destinations for Nigerian crude such as Spain’s San Roque refinery and Italy’s Sarroch plant. Facilities that have halted capacity for work also include Shell’s Pernis refinery near Rotterdam, Europe’s biggest plant.

“The Nigerian backlog is a combination of higher freight costs, lower tanker availability — specifically into Europe — as well as lower overall demand for West Africa light sweet as crude from other regions is deluging markets,” said Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at Kpler.

 

Northwest Europe’s reduced buying matters for West Africa because alternative outlets are limited, traders said. Mediterranean refiners can choose to skip Nigerian supply in favor of cheap North African barrels that ship more quickly to the region, or they can process some of the large volumes of US West Texas Intermediate crude that have been arriving in Europe in recent months.

 

Long-haul buyers like Indian Oil Corp. and Indonesia’s Pertamina have been taking more discounted Russian volumes this year, easing their need for Nigerian supply. China’s Unipec favors processing oil from Angola, where only around five April shipments are still available, the traders said.

 

Another driver of the unsold glut has been Nigeria’s revival of crude production that was shuttered in recent months by theft and technical issues, such as the nation’s Bonny Light stream. Nigerian export capacity may now exceed what the market needs in April and May, according to Katona.

 

 

shippingposition

Kindly like us on Facebook/twitter


Related Posts

MWUN Call Off Strike Action As Shipping Coys Agree On Acceptable Condition Of Services 

MWUN Call Off Strike Action As Shipping Coys Agree On Acceptable Condition Of Services 

June 6, 2023
NIMASA Debunks Nepotism Allegations Says Structure Based On Merit Professionalism 

NIMASA Debunks Nepotism Allegations Says Structure Based On Merit Professionalism 

June 6, 2023
Reps Panel Accuses Oil Coys Of Tax Evasion

Reps Summon NEPC MD Over Status Of $1.67bn Crude Oil Revenue

June 6, 2023
Exclusive: How Customs, FIRS Others Killed National Fleet Dream

Court Sentence Three To Two Years Imprisonment Over Assault On Customs Officers

June 6, 2023

Latest News

Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 6th June, 2023

Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 6th June, 2023

June 6, 2023

MWUN Call Off Strike Action As Shipping Coys Agree On Acceptable Condition Of Services 

NIMASA Debunks Nepotism Allegations Says Structure Based On Merit Professionalism 

Reps Summon NEPC MD Over Status Of $1.67bn Crude Oil Revenue

Court Sentence Three To Two Years Imprisonment Over Assault On Customs Officers

Customs Seizes Pangolin Scales Worth N432m In Bauchi

Customs PTML Welcomes Comptroller Saidu Yusuf, As Mahmoud Ibrahim Bows Out

Do you think Navy handled the prosecution of MV Heroin Idun very well?

Lesson From MT Heroic Idun    

Nigeria Stock Exchange Closes Market With Market Capitalization Of N30.4trn

We Won’t Fix Petrol Prices Again – NMDPRA

Subsidy: CPPE Urges FG On Interventions To Mitigate Impacts

kindly like our Facebook page

Health

  Taking Aphrodisiacs To Improve Sexual Potency, Dangerous — Experts
Health

  Taking Aphrodisiacs To Improve Sexual Potency, Dangerous — Experts

June 5, 2023

Health experts have described the trending addiction to aphrodisiacs by youths and some male adults for sexual potency as harmful...

COVID-19: Fifth Wave Looms As Nigeria Records Three Deaths In One Week

Most Diseases Are Preventable

May 29, 2023
Garcinia Kola: The Magic Of Chewing Just One Bitter Kola

Benefits Of Bitter Kola

May 29, 2023
FG To Place 80% Hypertensive Nigerians On Standard Treatment

FG To Place 80% Hypertensive Nigerians On Standard Treatment

May 22, 2023
High Blood Pressure Explained

High Blood Pressure Explained

May 22, 2023
Some Impressive Health Benefits Of Onions That May Interest You

Some Impressive Health Benefits Of Onions That May Interest You

May 22, 2023
Failed IVF Cycles Not End Of Parenthood Journey

Failed IVF Cycles Not End Of Parenthood Journey

May 15, 2023
COVID-19: Fifth Wave Looms As Nigeria Records Three Deaths In One Week

COVID-19: Nigeria Embarks On Integrated Health Emergency

May 15, 2023
Some Health Benefits Of Eating Groundnuts (Peanuts)

Some Health Benefits Of Eating Groundnuts (Peanuts)

May 15, 2023
BEWARE: Too Much Sex Is Bad For You!

DANGER: Why Sudden Death Happens During Sex – Expert

May 8, 2023

© 2021 Shippingposition

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Terms

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Coast To Coast
  • Oil and Gas
  • Maritime Education
  • The Terminals
  • Maritime safety

© 2021 Shippingposition