World news: New Nembe oil launched in Nigeria

A grade with a low sulfur content can compete with Brazilian and Azerbaijani grades of oil for European refineries.

Nigerian state oil company NNPC Ltd has launched a new grade of oil called Nembe, according to the Reuters news agency.

Nembe production was added to the Bonny Light stream more than three years ago, until sabotage cases on the Nembe Creek trunk line stopped production, now the country has managed to revive Nembe as a separate variety, an NNPC source told Reuters on the sidelines of the Argus European crude Oil conference in London.

The first batches of Nembe oil were sold in October and consisted of two batches of 950,000 barrels sold to France and the Netherlands, an NNPC source told Reuters.

Nembe is similar to other Nigerian varieties with a high distillate content, such as Forcados, Bonga and Edipa. Nembe, with a density of API 29, has a low sulfur content and can compete with Brazilian and Azerbaijani grades of oil for European refineries.

NNPC is going to deliver up to six batches of crude oil to the Dangote Oil Refinery in December for use in test launches.

Nembe’s production currently stands at around 50,000 barrels per day, but NNPC plans to increase it to 80,000 by the first quarter of next year and to 150,000 barrels per day by early 2025, according to Reuters.

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