OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — Nigerian crude grades, Amenam, and Bonny Light are currently facing loading delays at the international market due to force majeure.
Exports of Total’s grade, Amenam, and Bonny Light have been put on hold for a while now, causing slowdowns in meeting orders, according to market reports from traders.
Operator of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, Aiteo Eastern Exploration & Production Company said NCTL which exports Bonny Light is still under shutdown.
Aiteo, had cited two new leaks along the line near Awoba Riser Manifold as the cause of the shutdown, according to a statement by the company’s spokesperson, Mr. Ndiana Matthew.
Shell also confirmed that the force majeure remains in place on exports of Bonny Light, meaning Nigeria loses a daily export of 150,000 barrels of crude oil.
This is the second outage on Bonny Light in a week and third this year.
At least 20 cargoes of June loading Nigerian crude offered at relatively high prices are also said to be struggling to find buyers.
As a result of the high prices, likely customers of Nigeria’s crude buyers in Europe which happens to be the country’s current number-one buyers, now seek cheaper oils close to the Mediterranean field and from Russia.
Nigeria’s major buyer, India, will not also be buying more than 20, 000 barrels per day despite low supplies from Iran. India is Iran’s number two customer however, the later had been unable to meet up with supplies due to sanctions from the United States, cutting its exports to almost zero.