The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited announced on Tuesday that it has introduced a new crude oil grade called “Nembe” and that two 950,000 barrels of its maiden shipment had been sent in October.
The Punch reported that the first cargoes of the new grade were sold to France and the Netherlands, according to a Reuters article quoting the executive director of oil and condensate at NNPC Trading, Maryamu Idris, during the sidelines of the Argus European oil conference in London.
Nembe is comparable to other grades that are rich in distillates, like Egina, Bonga, and Forcados.
She said that the low-sulfur grade is competitive with Brazilian and Azeri crude grades for European refiners, commanding a premium above the global Brent benchmark.
The source further stated that although the NNPCL is presently producing about 50,000 barrels of Nembe per day, it plans to increase that amount to 80,000 barrels per day by the first quarter of next year and 150,000 barrels per day by the beginning of 2025.
The news follows a rebound in crude oil production, which increased to 1.3 million barrels per day last month from a low of 900,000 barrels per day in September of previous year.
During the Pre-Conference workshop of the 41st 2023 conference of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists in Lagos on Monday, the Chairman of AA Holdings, Austin Avuru, stated that the Federal Government would require approximately $21 billion in annual investments to achieve 3 million barrels per day of crude oil production.
At the Pre-Conference workshop of the 41st 2023 conference of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists in Lagos on Monday, keynote speaker and Chairman of AA Holdings, Austin Avuru, disclosed this.
Avuru stated that the investment would be necessary to fund oil exploration in order to reach 3 million barrels by 2027. The conference had the theme “Unlocking Nigeria’s Remaining Energy Potential to Fuel Economic Growth and Diversification: Opportunities and Challenges.”
