Nigeria’s state-owned oil company NNPC issued further tenders to sell a cargo of its newest crude oil grade Cawthorne in September, plus another to sell Bonny Light, according to tender documents seen by Reuters.
The company began exporting Cawthorne in March, joining other recently launched grades such as Nembe and Utapate, as Nigeria seeks to boost production and diversify its export streams after years of underinvestment, oil theft and operational disruptions.
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According to the document, the Cawthorne cargo will load on September 21-22 and will comprise 950,000 barrels. NNPC is also offering a 950,000 barrel cargo of Bonny Light loading on September 30-October 1. NNPC did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The cargoes are both sold on a free on board basis, and bids for the tenders are due by 8 p.m. West Africa Time (1900 GMT) on August 4.
The Bonny Light production stream will load around 364,000 barrels per day of oil across 12 cargoes, a preliminary loading programme seen by Reuters shows.
Sellers of West African grades were beginning to raise offer levels in recent sessions amid growing supply disruptions in the Middle East, traders told Reuters, but broadly speaking trading activity has been muted as market participants await further clarity on the volatile situation in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
Reporting by Seher Dareen in London and Isaac Anyaogu in Lagos, writing by Robert Harvey, editing by Alex Lawler and Susan Fenton
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