Nobody willing to lift Nigeria’s crude, Indian investor laments

India’s Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) has revealed the difficulty it is facing in investing in Nigeria’s oil, saying nobody is willing to lift the country’s oil.

BK Namdeo, HPCL director of refineries, said the energy company would be cautious in future investments in Nigeria’s oil.

“We are finding it difficult to book a vessel to lift Nigerian crude… We will be cautious in future while deciding about crude of Nigerian origin,” he told Reuters.

He said his firm was unsure whether it would be able to lift a very large crude carrier of Qua Iboe crude on time, following refusal from investors to bring their vessels to Nigeria.

“Nobody is coming forward to offer the vessel and whoever is willing to go to Nigeria is asking exorbitant rates.”

According to Reuters, HPCL bought the 2 million barrels of Qua Iboe from Totsa, a trading arm of France’s Total, scheduled for lifting between October 7 and 8, 2015, lifting on a free on board (FOB) basis.

Namdeo hinted that NNPC’s request of a letter of comfort from shippers, who would sail its territorial waters, are making it all the more difficult to find a shipper.

The Indian firm said it had chartered the Ridgebury Progress, an oil vessel, but the owner refused to sign the “letter of comfort” sought by the Nigerian authorities.

Earlier in September, President Muhammadu Buhari reversed the a July-sanctioned embargo on 113 vessels sailing Nigerian waters, but the condition for the reversal still seem to be haunting investments in the sector.