Nigeria has exported the primary cargo of its new Cawthorne export grade, a spokesperson for the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm Restricted (NNPC) has instructed Platts, with ship-tracking knowledge displaying it heading to India.
“NNPC shipped the primary cargo of the brand new Cawthorne crude on the weekend. A complete of 950,000 barrels of crude was exported from the FSO Cawthorne,” the NNPC spokesperson instructed Platts, a part of S&P World Power.
Different not too long ago launched Nigerian grades embody Obodo, launched in 2025, and Utapate, launched in 2024, reflecting sustained efforts by NNPC to diversify export streams and stabilise production.
Ship-tracking knowledge from S&P World Commodities at Sea confirmed the cargo is being delivered to India’s Sikka port. Sikka is residence to the 1.36 million bpd Reliance-owned Jamnagar refinery, which has sought to diversify its crude slate following sanctions on Russian power and amid the Center East struggle.
NNPC stated beforehand that the brand new grade is mild and candy, akin to Nigeria’s flagship Bonny Gentle crude, the S&P report added.
Cawthorne crude is being produced from OML 18, within the jap division of the Niger Delta, which has lengthy been stricken by crude theft and sabotage. NNPC is the operator of the block, which accommodates the Awoba and Bugumafields. OML 18 was beforehand operated by supermajor Shell.
Sahara Group – NNPC’s accomplice in OML 18 – additionally confirmed to Platts, March 30, that the primary barrels of Cawthorne had lifted over the past weekend, including that FSO facility could be “strategic in strengthening Nigeria’s power safety by way of its dependable production, storage and evacuation infrastructure”.
“The profitable graduation of crude lifting from FSO Cawthorne is a major milestone for the OML 18 partnership and a powerful demonstration of what could be achieved by way of shared imaginative and prescient, technical self-discipline and dedicated collaboration,” an organization assertion quoted Sahara’s head of economic and planning, Tosin Etomi, as saying.
Etomi stated superior applied sciences have been deployed on the two.2-million-barrel FSO Cawthorne, incorporating cutting-edge programs supported by synthetic intelligence.
NNPC and Sahara Group are joined by Lagos-based Eroton E&P and BiltonEnergy within the possession of OML 18, which ought to hit peak production of fifty,000 bpd, in response to trade knowledge.
Nigeria has been pushing to spice up its crude production and exports because the election of President Bola Tinubu in Might 2023. Demand for West African crude has been rising with the US-Israeli struggle in Iran hitting crude provide from the Persian Gulf, the Platts report harassed.
The nation pumped 1.48 million b/d in February after the large Bonga deepwater discipline went offline for scheduled upkeep, in response to authorities estimates. Nigeria’s complete production capability is alleged to be round 2.2 million bpd, however years of underinvestment, discipline maturation and crude theft have tanked output over the previous decade, it famous.
To reverse this development, Tinubu, Platts defined, has signed a sequence of govt orders promising fiscal incentives for operators to drive inbound funding, whereas allowing native corporations to take over mature onshore fields from IOCs, permitting the latter to give attention to deepwater tasks.
Emmanuel Addeh
Times Nigeria