Nigeria exports first crude cargo from Anyala oil field

The first cargo export of Anyala, Nigeria’s newest crude grade, is currently making its way to Northwest Europe, S&P Global Platts is reporting.

The platform quotes trading and shipping sources as saying the Aframax Minerva Clara loaded a 700,000 barrel stem of Anyala crude from the Abigail-Joseph floating production, storage and offloading vessel on January 10, and the tanker is on its way to the Fos-sur-Mer terminal, located at France’s Mediterranean port of Marseille.

Vitol, a trading house, is reported to have chartered the tanker in relation to its stake in FIRST E&P, a Nigerian oil and gas company, who is the operator of the Anyala West oil fields in the Niger Delta.

It also quotes sources as saying a second cargo will load in March as a result of interest expressed by some Asian refiners.

Anyala has been labelled a medium sweet crude grade, similar to Nigeria’s Bonny Light.

Sweet crude is a highly sought after type of crude oil which commands a high price and contains low amounts of sulfur when refined.

When refined, Anyala will produce a high yield of middle distillates, making it attractive to both simple and complex refineries.

The crude oil is from OMLs 83 and 85 in Anyala West oil fields in the Niger Delta which is estimated to contain 300 million barrels of crude oil recoverable reserves.

According to FIRST E&P, the fields are expected to reach 60,000 barrels per day production when fully developed.

OML 83 covers an aerial extent of 125 sq. km, with Anyala field as the only discovery within the acreage.

Madu field, which is the main discovery within OML 85, has an aerial extent of 521 sq. km.

Anyala field is located at a water depth of 55m, about 45km off the coast of Bayelsa state and 23km from Madu field.

Other types of crude grades currently produced in Nigeria include Qua Iboe, Forcados and Brass River.