NNPC, Aiteo launch new crude grade, Nembe

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has announced the introduction of the Nembe crude oil grade to the market.

In a statement on Tuesday, the oil firm said the announcement was made by NNPC and Aiteo, operators of the NNPC-Aiteo oil mining lease (OML) 29 joint venture (JV), at the ongoing Argus European crude conference in London. 

“The Nembe crude oil is produced from OML 29, onshore Nigeria. The Asset is operated by an indigenous operator, Aiteo E&P, which took over operations from Shell after their divestment from the Asset,” NNPC said.

The national oil company said that the Nembe crude was previously blended with the Bonny Light grade and exported via the Bonny oil and gas terminal.

“As a side event to the Argus Conference, a delegation led by both the Aiteo E&P executives and the NNPC Limited leadership highlighted the unique selling point of the Nembe Crude Oil grade with an API of 29, low sulphur content and low carbon footprint due to flare gas elimination, it perfectly fits the required spec of major buyers in Europe,” NNPC said. 

“This announcement also signals the commencement of activities at Nigeria’s newest crude oil terminal, the Nembe Crude Oil Export Terminal (NCOET), which was licensed in line with the extant laws and Crude Oil Terminal establishment regulations.

“The terminal was conceived as a Floating Storage and Offloading Vessel (FSO) with a storage capacity of two (2) Million Barrels and the ability to offload crude oil to any export tanker from AFRAMAX to Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC).

“The terminal has a loading capacity of 25,000 barrels per hour and will be exporting over 3.6 million barrels of Crude oil monthly at full scale of operation.

“With this development, hydrocarbon production from OML 29, which was hitherto constrained due to evacuation challenges owing to the security issues around the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) corridor, has now been debottlenecked through a collaborative and creative approach that led to the innovation of the Alternative Crude Oil Evacuation Solution.”

According to the statement, the achievement highlights the benefit of the strong collaboration of stakeholders, including NNPC Limited, the operator, and industry regulators, among others, to overcome challenges.

The oil exporter said: “This is clearly a testament to what can be achieved with the right combination of critical thinking and open communication between stakeholders.”

TWO NEMBE CRUDE CARGOES EXPORTED TO FRANCE, NETHERLANDS’

NNPC said two cargoes of 950,000 barrels each of the Nembe crude oil grade have already been exported to France and the Netherlands.

“With its attractive Assay of API 29 and low sulphur content, the Nembe Crude Oil grade commands a premium to the global Brent benchmark,” NNPC said. 

“With the NNPC-AITEO OML 29 JV back onstream, Nigeria now boasts an additional crude oil export of 2 Cargoes of 950,000 barrels each per month and 1.2 Bcf of export gas monthly.” 

NNPC said the completion of a planned subsea pipeline will enable the ramp-up of production of the Nembe crude from OML 29 to 3.6 million barrels monthly.