Nigeria’s Qua Iboe crude exports set to resume after fire — Report

Nigeria is set to resume crude export from the Qua Iboe terminal in Akwa Ibom State, six weeks after a fire at the terminal disrupted production and loadings.

S&P Global Platts, which provides benchmark prices for commodity markets around the world, reported Friday that Qua Iboe crude production has started to rise to normal levels of 200,000 barrels a day and that loading programmes for February and March have been released.

Loading programmes for the two months average 169,643b/d and 153,226b/d respectively. S&P Global Platts estimated that production of the key grade ranged between 180,000 – 220,000b/d in 2020.

Qua Iboe is one of Nigeria’s largest export grades and is popular among global refiners in India, the US, Canada, Italy, Spain, Indonesia and Netherlands.

It is a light sweet crude that has a gravity of 36 API and low sulfur content of 0.13 per cent.

The S&P Global Platts report quoted sources saying that Exxon Mobil, which operates the Qua export terminal had not officially lifted force majeure on Qua Iboe exports but they said it is imminent.

Crude produced mostly by Exxon Mobil from the fields 20 – 40 miles off the coast of Akwa Ibom is brought to the shore at the Qua Iboe terminal via a seabed pipeline system.

Bonny light is Nigeria’s main crude grade, and typically trades at roughly the same level as Qua Iboe. It was last assessed 30 cents per barrel.

Prices for Nigerian crude have suffered in recent weeks even with lower supply due to the outage.