- 60 Cargoes of Nigerian oil Remains Unsold Despite Huge Discount
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is yet to find buyers for about 60 cargoes of Nigerian crude oil despite offering the largest discount on record.
The inability of Nigeria and Angola to find buyers for their oil weighed on the global oil market on Tuesday as the unsold cargoes added to the global glut, according to a Reuters report.
A trader that was quoted said ‘it’s a buyer’s market right now.’
Demand from China has dropped in recent weeks as the world’s largest importer of the commodity struggles to stimulate growth and lure investors back to the economy after Coronavirus shut down.
Reuters put the glut of unsold Nigerian crude oil at about 60 cargoes for both April and May, while the NNPC continued to offer Qua Iboe and Bonny Light crude at around dated Brent minus $3.
The NNPC had lowered selling price for Bonny Light and Qua Iboe (April loading) in March, two of the nation’s major grades.
The corporation offered $5 per barrel discount to dated Brent minus $3.29 and minus $3.10 per barrel for Bonny Light and Qua Iboe, respectively.
Traders have said global oil glut stood at about 35 billion barrels per day while OPEC’s Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo had said it was about 14.7 million barrels per day in this second quarter.
However, the recently announced 13.4 million barrels per day production cuts by OPEC+, USA, Brazil and Canada failed to lift oil prices, suggesting that top producers need deeper cuts to call oil bottom.