OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — Philadelphia has diverted the only crude cargo it ordered from Nigeria due to fire.
Although the Philadelphia Energy Refinery, PES facility was a consistent buyer of West African and especially Nigerian crude, however, since shale boom, the state ordered less of Nigerian crude only one cargo bound for Philadelphia has been diverted since a fire partially shut down operations.
SweetcrudeReports reported how Nigeria has been benefiting from the European gasoline cracks.
The cracks in Europe have benefitted from the shutdown at Philadelphia’s main refinery, causing a surge in request for Nigerian crude grades.
Now that the PES facility has been affected by fire, the imports from Nigeria and other crude maybe diverted to nearby Philadelphia refineries, which will also cause a boost to the Atlantic coast products market.
Nigerian crude grades are still being offered at relatively high prices. Eni offers a cargo of Brass Rivers at a premium of $2.20 above dated.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest survey period on Friday showed that the U.S. had imported no crude from Nigeria, also importing none from Kuwait and Venezuela.
Around 6 cargoes of Nigerian crude remain for July loading.
*SweetcrudeReports/Reuters
