The state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced the launch of Nembe crude oil grade, which the company says opens the door to increased commodity exports.
The company said that the new grade has a low sulfur content and low carbon footprint by eliminating the use of flare gas, which "fits perfectly into the required specs of major buyers in Europe."
"With its attractive Assay of API 29 and low sulfur content, the Nembe Crude Oil grade commands a premium to the global Brent benchmark," NNPС explained.
The company took pride that it had already shipped two consignments of 950,000 barrels of Nembe to France and the Netherlands, and projected that the country would now be able to export two additional consignments of 950,000 barrels of crude oil per month, as well as 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas per month.
The Nembe crude oil is expected to be exported through the new Nembe Crude Oil Export Terminal which is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in 2024. The company emphasized that the terminal was "licensed in line with the extant laws and Crude Oil Terminal establishment regulations."
"It has a loading capacity of 25,000 barrels per hour and will be exporting over 3.6 million barrels of сrude oil monthly at full scale of operation," the company said.
Previously, Nembe crude was blended with the "popular" Bonny Light grade and exported via the Bonny Oil & Gas Terminal, the company added.
Earlier on Sunday, media reported citing sources that NNPC would supply up to six batches of crude oil to the newly established Dangote Oil Refinery for test runs in December.
The 650,000-barrel-a-day Dangote refinery, which opened in May, will revolutionize the region's oil trade and reduce the dependence of Nigeria and other African countries on fuel imports from Europe and North America, according to the experts.