Australian heavy sweet Vincent crude could be available for loading as early as July after an absence of four months because of maintenance at its production facility.
The Ngujima-Yin floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is the facility used for Vincent crude production, is expected to return to production in the third quarter of this year, Australian independent Woodside said in its quarterly report on 21 April, without providing further details.
The FPSO has been in dry dock since March, curbing availability of Vincent crude this year. The facility has offered no cargoes of Vincent crude for March-June loading. Around 1-2 Vincent crude cargoes, each 550,000 bl, are typically available every month.
The Ngujima-Yin FPSO is an oil production facility located at the Greater Enfield oil field in the Carnarvon basin offshore Western Australia. Woodside and Japanese upstream firm Mitsui E&P Australia hold a 60pc and 40pc stake respectively in the Greater Enfield oil field, jointly marketing the Vincent grade.
Vincent crude was used for fuel oil blending in previous years but the grade has been going mainly to refineries in Asia-Pacific the past year, as a fall in its flash point made the grade less suitable for blending.
The Greater Enfield project was completed in 2018 and involves the development of the Laverda Canyon, Norton over Laverda, and Cimatti oil permits through a subsea tie-back to the Ngujima-Yin FPSO, which is located over the Vincent oil field.
