Nigerian oil has been slow to sell this month as bidders for the country’s July-loading heavy and light sweet crudes have been absent from the market.
Market participants pegged the amount of unsold Nigerian barrels loading in July at 20 million-34 million barrels, amounting to roughly 40%-75% of what is produced in a month.
Equity holders, who will take June-loading cargoes they could not sell into their own systems, have struggled to deliver additional stems into their systems in July.
Akpo and Agbami, Nigeria’s best grades in terms of sulfur and gravity, have fallen to a seventh-month low as large quantities of oil from the June and July program remained unsold as traditional buyers sought alternatives.
Marketing barrels has been more difficult due to wide Brent-WTI spreads giving oil coming from west of the Atlantic Ocean a price advantage over Brent-related ones. “[US crudes] are taking a big share market share in the east. We need something to happen. The Brent/WTI won’t help,” a trader said.
Source: Platts
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