Forcados News

An oil vessel used for storage that exploded off the coast of Nigeria last week had not been maintained for some time and had technical issues, two sources and an environmental group said on Friday, as its wreckage lay in the sea after the fire was put out.The 10 crew members who were on board at the time of the explosion early on Wednesday remained unaccounted for, according to witnesses, amid fears they may have been caught in the fire.A Reuters witness saw the burnt out remains of the Trinity Spirit floating production…

Freight rates eased further on Friday, especially for the largest oil tankers, promising some recovery for West African oil prices which had touched multi-year lows. VLCC freight costs eased more rapidly than smaller Suezmaxes, making it less advantageous to ship on the latter. Prices for Suezmaxes were estimated around world scale 190-200, with one European buyer estimating further relief to around 150 by the end of next week.Nigeria's NNPC cut its November official selling price for Bonny Light crude to dated Brent plus 58 cents per barrel and for Qua Iboe to plus 63 cents per barrel…

Highly sought after types of oil best suited to making cleaner shipping fuel are suddenly finding they are a tougher sell for thirsty East Asian markets, traders say, in an unintended consequence of U.S. sanctions on a Chinese shipping fleet.With just over two months until environmental rules are set to mandate the biggest changes to ship power in over a century, certain rare types of West African oil have soared in value but have had to be marked down due to the higher costs of transport.The United States imposed sanctions on units of China's COSCO on Sept.

Sellers returned to the window on Monday to entice buyers spooked by high freight rates due to Washington's sanctions on subsidiaries of a major Chinese shipping firm at the end of September.Long-haul rates to Asia have risen sharply prompting refiners to shed some cargoes.China's Unipec offered four cargoes in the window for a third session all November loading on a fob basis. These were Angolan Saturno at dated Brent plus 35 cents, Dalia at dated Brent plus $1.90, Mostarda at…

Nigerian crude sells into tenders, while Angolan trades more quickly on spot. * ExxonMobil had purchased two of the three Olombendo cargoes sold this week, traders said. * All three are likely to sail to the Mediterranean or the United States rather than China, the usual destination. * Angola's Sonangol sold its cargo of Dalia, which it had been offering at dated Brent minus 70 cents a barrel. The buyer was not clear, but traders said it was a western company rather than Asian. * Statoil had also sold a cargo of Angola's Saturno. * Sonangol was still offering another cargo of Dalia at dated Brent minus 70 cents a barrel and a cargo of Saxi at dated Brent plus 75 cents a barrel. * Nigerian crude cargoes Erha and Forcados were selling into tenders, but spot trade was limited.

Nigeria is set to export more of its largest crude oil stream, Qua Iboe, on a barrel-per-day basis in April, while loadings of two other main export grades will also rise, loading programmes showed on Friday. Forcados exports will also rise, to 262,000 bpd in April on 10 cargoes, up from 248,000 bpd on 11 cargoes in March. Bonny Light exports in April are also expected to edge higher on a bpd basis to 163,000 bpd in April, up from 161,000 bpd in March. The total Bonny loading volume will slip to 4.9 million barrels on five cargoes, down slightly from 4.99 million barrels on six cargoes in March.

India's IOC booked a total of 4 million barrels from traders Shell and Total, while Nigeria's initial October export plans mostly showed slipping levels. Export plans for Forcados, Qua Iboe, Bonny Light, Bonga Erha, Amenam and Usan nearly all showed lower figures compared with September. Forcados exports were scheduled to rise to 256,000 bpd, and Erha also showed an increase. But Qua Iboe, the largest export stream, and the other grades released were all set to slip month-on-month. There were roughly 10-15 cargoes left from the September loading plan. Official Selling Prices for July were expected by Friday. Differentials have been supported by strong refinery margins. Trading was limited as state oil company Sonangol allocated cargoes from its recently issued October export plan.

Royal Dutch Shell lifted force majeure on exports of Nigeria's Forcados crude oil, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.   The grade, which typically exports 200,000-240,000 barrels per day (bpd) had been under force majeure since February 2016 following a militant attack on the main export route, the Trans Forcados Pipeline.   Last week Shell issued a loading programme for June exports that lifted planned exports from Nigeria to at least a 15-month high.   Reporting by Libby George

Nigeria issued its first Forcados oil loading plan since 2016, putting the nation's June oil exports on track to hit thier highest level in at least 15 months. The plan, if realised, would return loadings by Nigeria, normally West Africa's biggest oil exporter, to levels not seen since militant attacks in the oil-rich Niger Delta first shut down Forcados exports in early 2016. It is also likely to put more downward pressure on oil prices, which are already trading more than 16 percent below the highs reached in January on the back of a persistent global excess. Last week the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries along with several other oil producing nations agreed to extend output cuts of 1.8 million bpd, but it gave Nigeria, along with Libya, another exemption.

The Nigerian navy has arrested 10 suspects after intercepting a vessel carrying stolen crude oil off the coast of the Niger Delta, a senior military official said on Wednesday. The suspects - a Nigerian, two Pakistanis, three Ghanaians, one Indonesian, one Beninois and two Ukrainians - had siphoned about two thousand metric tonnes of crude oil from a loading facility belonging to Shell Petroleum, the official said. "The suspects were caught in the early hours of Tuesday while siphoning crude oil into the vessel from Afremo A platform, a loading jacket belonging to the Shell Petroleum and Development Company in Forcados River," Navy Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, commander of the NNS Delta, said in a statement.

Royal Dutch Shell has resumed crude exports from the Forcados terminal in Nigeria's restive Niger Delta following repairs after a militant attack, the Nigerian presidency said on Tuesday.   "The Shell Director, Mr. Andrew Brown, informed the President of the resumption of oil exportation through the Forcados terminal following its restoration," the presidency said after a meeting between Brown and President Muhammadu Buhari.   (Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

Robust Asian demand for West African crude is fueling a worldwide surge in shipping rates for the largest oil tankers that is being felt from Houston to Singapore. Chartering rates for Suezmaxes and very large crude carriers (VLCCs) have recovered rapidly in recent weeks after plunging to their lowest in more than year this summer. The spike in rates comes as Asian refiners return to the market after a seasonal turnaround period, and as several key streams of West African crude are finally loading for export after supplies were constrained because of pipeline disruptions in Nigeria. The higher rates, which imply fewer imports into the United States, could support benchmark oil prices in coming weeks.

Nigeria’s crude oil production and exports have been hit by severe outages as a result of attacks on oil infrastructure by rebel fighters in the Niger River Delta. Various sources report that Qua Iboe Terminal has shut down operations until further notice. All tanks on the facility were emptied of crude, operations have ceased completely and all personnel have been evacuated from the terminal, which is operated by ExxonMobil. Qua Iboe is Nigeria’s largest crude oil stream and exports usually more than 300,000 barrels per day (b/d). Exports of Nigeria’s other large crude oil grades, like Forcados, Bonny Light and Escravos have also been restricted, primarily due to sabotage and attacks on pipelines. As a result of the outages Nigeria’s oil production has dropped below 1.5 mb/d.

Tender deals helped to liven up a lacklustre West African crude oil market on Thursday, though overall demand remained weak. Indian Oil Corporation bought four cargoes of West African oil, traders said, nibbling at an overhang of unsold September cargoes just a few days before Angola's October loading programme comes to market. Traders were watching to see whether there could be an impact on Chinese imports of West African oil after two huge explosions in the northeast Chinese port city of Tianjin killed at least 50 people, including at least a dozen fire fighters. One trader said there was no immediate impact for oil cargoes already in the area.

Shell has declared force majeure on exports of Nigeria's Forcados crude oil stream, a spokesman for the company said on Wednesday. It declared force majeure on the evening on May 5 following "a series of leaks" in the Trans Forcados pipeline that brings the oil to the export terminal. The pipeline itself is operated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC). Several cargoes of Forcados for May loading were still on offer, with around 189,000 barrels per day (bpd) scheduled for export in six cargoes. The June export program, with a total of 158,000 bpd, had not yet started trading, sources said. An overhang of light sweet crudes…

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has announced that it will impose conditions of entry on vessels arriving from the Federal Republic of Nigeria (excluding vessels arriving from certain ports) with effect from June 26, GAC reported in its daily Hot Port News Report. The USCG is authorised to impose conditions of entry on vessels arriving in U.S. waters from ports that it has not found to maintain effective antiterrorism measures. Ports in the Federal Republic of Nigeria were found to not be maintaining effective anti-terrorism measures, with certain exceptions. Beginning June 26, 2014, the below conditions of entry will apply to any vessel that visited a non-excepted Nigerian port in its last five port calls.

West African oil differentials were unchanged on Friday, with traders on the sidelines as they assessed the impact of lower North Sea supply and awaited a clearer outlook for Libyan exports. The supply of North Sea crude that underpins the Brent benchmark will average 774,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, according to loading schedules provided by trade sources on Friday, down from April. This was seen putting upward pressure on Nigerian differentials because oil from the two regions competes for customers. "We're waiting to see what the offers on the North Sea are like," a trader said. Crude oil futures prices fell earlier this week on hopes that Libyan supply would return. This would pressure West African grades because they are of a similar light, low-sulphur composition.

Stolt Offshore S.A. has secured a contract from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria for the ForcadosYokri offshore development in the Niger Delta. The $245 million contract has been awarded to a consortium of Stolt Offshore and the Nigerian company Suffolk which is part of the Adamac group. The Stolt Offshore share of the contract is $110 million. The Forcados Yokri project includes the expansion and refurbishment of existing shallow water oil and gas production and process facilities and the fabrication and the installation of a new production platform with a 250 tonne jacket and 1,300 tonne topsides. Stolt Offshore is responsible for all of the engineering…

Taiwan state-owned Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) is likely to award two VLCCs of West African crudes in its January tender, traders said. They said the grades to be awarded were the preferred grades which included Djeno, Forcados and Kole, but details of the offers were sketchy.