Nigeria Adds New Crude Grade, Targets 50,000bpd by Year-end

By Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Nigeria has added a new crude grade known as Utapate, as Africa’s biggest oil producer strives to return output to pre-pandemic levels, Bloomberg has reported.

A subsidiary of state-owned NNPC and venture partner Natural Oilfield Services Ltd. loaded the first export cargo last month, according to people familiar with the matter. They declined to be identified because the information isn’t public, the report said.

Utapate — a light, low-sulphur oil from the Niger Delta region — is one of several dozen grades produced in Nigeria. The Utapate terminal produced almost 19,000 barrels a day in June, according to Bloomberg calculations from regulatory data. Output could reach 50,000 barrels a day by the end of the year, according to one of the people.

NNPC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Natural Oilfield Services declined to comment.

The Suezmax Front Seoul loaded Utapate on July 24 and is now headed for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed. The grade will be processed in Europe and Asia, with the first shipment directed to Spanish refiner Repsol SA.

Nigeria, a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is seeking to boost oil output to more than 2 million barrels a day, after theft, vandalism and lack of investment hampered production in recent years.

 Its total crude and condensate production was about 1.5 million barrels per day in June, the highest since February, regulatory data showed.