Nigerian NNPC cuts May official crude prices

Nigeria's state-owned NNPC has released its delayed crude official selling prices (OSPs) for May, and has cut values for all its grades from the decades-lows in April.

All Nigerian grades for May are at discounts to North Sea Dated, some of the lighter ones by upwards of $5/bl. At current Dated levels, this means some Nigerian grades will sell for less than $10/bl next month. The price cuts are borne of necessity — Nigeria desperately needs to place its crude, and lacks onshore storage facilities. Tankers laden with Nigerian grades are already idling off its shores, waiting for a home.

NNPC trimmed prices for key grades by between 47¢/bl and 98¢/bl on the month. Market participants had expected larger cuts for the country's main streams.

"They could have been more generous in supporting contractors", said a trader.

NNPC cut Qua Iboe's price by 82¢/bl from April to a discount to North Sea Dated of $3.92/bl, and cut the price of Forcados by 91¢/bl on the month to a discount of $3.91/bl to the benchmark.

It made 66¢/bl cuts to Bonny Light and Brass River, to discounts of $3.95/bl and $3.82/bl, respectively.

Among the bigger streams NNPC again priced Egina the highest, at a $2.49/bl discount to Dated. NNPC considers Egina a condensate, even though its gravity suggests it is crude.

Among lighter grades NNPC cut the price of Agbami and Akpo by $1.30/bl and $2.38/bl to $5.30/bl and $6.38/bl below the benchmark respectively, and cut the price of heavy sweet Eremor by $3.53/bl to a discount of $7.53/bl, the lowest value for the 33 grades NNPC listed.

NNPC's cut to the highly acidic medium-sweet Usan was 53¢/bl, to a discount of $4.53/bl.

The highest priced grades remained medium and light-sweet EA Blend and Okwuibome at $1.51/bl and $1.69/bl discounts, respectively.

NNPC usually publishes its official selling prices (OSPs) for the upcoming month between the 15th and 25th of the preceding month. The OSPs for April-loading cargoes were published on 23 March, while the March and February OSPs were issued on 19 February and 16 January, respectively.

By Nicola De Sanctis

Nigeria official formula prices $/bl Grade May April &#177; Bonny Light -3.95 -3.29 -0.66 Qua Iboe -3.92 -3.10 -0.82 Escravos -3.70 -2.74 -0.96 Brass River -3.82 -3.16 -0.66 Pennington -3.60 -2.79 -0.81 Forcados -3.91 -3.00 -0.91 Amenam -3.95 -3.60 -0.35 Yoho -3.92 -3.25 -0.67 EA -1.51 -0.88 -0.63 Abo -4.15 -3.35 -0.80 Okono -3.63 -2.97 -0.66 Antan -3.64 -3.13 -0.51 Okwori -2.57 -1.98 -0.59 Bonga -4.03 -3.05 -0.98 Erha -3.40 -2.93 -0.47 Agbami -5.30 -4.00 -1.30 Akpo -6.38 -4.00 -2.38 Ukpokiti -3.72 -3.01 -0.71 Obe -4.31 -3.73 -0.58 Ima -5.94 -4.00 -1.94 Okoro -3.38 -1.71 -1.67 Oyo -2.29 -1.54 -0.75 Okwuibome -1.69 -0.59 -1.10 Ebok -4.92 -3.82 -1.10 Asaramatoru -3.47 -2.85 -0.62 Eremor -7.53 -4.00 -3.53 Usan -4.53 -4.00 -0.53 Zafiro* -4.12 -2.67 -1.45 Otakikpo -3.95 -3.19 -0.76 Aje -3.95 -3.19 -0.76 Ajapa -3.70 -2.90 -0.80 Jones Creek Blend -3.91 -2.90 -1.01 Egina -2.49 -1.00 -1.49 Agu -4.92 -3.72 -1.20 Premium for deferred pricing 0.07 0.07 0.00 Premium for advanced pricing 0.07 0.07 0.00 *Equatorial Guinea

Related News