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Nigeria licenses two new crude export terminals

  • : Crude oil
  • 23/06/14

Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has issued licences to establish two new crude export terminals to a subsidiary of state-owned NNPC and to Nigerian upstream operator Belemaoil Producing, with the latter due to be operational in 18 to 24 months.

NMDPRA chief executive Farouk Ahmed said NNPC Exploration and Production (NEPL) will establish the 2.2mn bl Utapate terminal, while the Belema Sweet Export terminal will have a capacity of 2mn bl when completed.

NEPL holds the lease to the onshore oil block OML 13 in southeastern Niger delta, in Nigeria's Akwa Ibom state.

Shell gave up the asset in 2011 and a subsequent development plan for the Utapate field included a terminal as part of its second phase. A group of Nigerian marginal field operators export from the OML 13 Uquo and Qua Iboe fields through a 35,000 b/d crude evacuation system that goes to ExxonMobil's Qua Iboe terminal. Ahmed said the Utapate terminal will lie offshore within the waters of Nigeria's exclusive economic zone.

Ahmed also said the Belema terminal will be located 20 nautical miles off Kula in Rivers state. The terminal's three loading bays will lie at a water depth of 25m, 6km into the estuary of the St Bartholomew river, between Brass and Bonny.

The area falls within OML 55, which is operated by Belemaoil in a joint venture with NNPC. The company's external affairs manager Samuel Abel-Jumbo told Argus today that a floating, storage and offloading (FSO) facility will be installed before the end of this year while the construction of the terminal will take 18–24 months.

OML 55, in which London-listed Seplat Energy has a revenue interest, borders about 10 other oil blocks, including the NNPC joint ventures in OMLs 18, 24 and 29 from which crude should go to the Bonny terminal through the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL).

NCTL is operated by Aiteo, NNPC's partner in OML 29, but has been shut since February 2022. Aiteo said it is awaiting approval for its planned barging operations so that OML 29 production and exports can restart this month.

Nigerian upstream operator Newcross consistently barges the production of OML 24 to Bonny. Meanwhile, barging operations and the installation of FSO Eli Akaso, two alternative crude shipping plans, have failed to materialise at OML 18, leading to a dispute between the joint venture partners.

Nigeria has 31 export terminals but only 23 are active. The country's Opec+ quota of 1.74mn b/d will remain in place until the end of this year, but it has agreed to a quota cut for next year. New president Bola Tinubu campaigned on a promise to raise crude output to 2.6mn b/d by 2027. The highest the country's output has ever been in Nigeria was around 2.5mn b/d, 18 years ago. The head of NNPC's upstream investment subsidiary said two weeks ago that the country's output this month will hit 1.59mn b/d and 1.8mb b/d by August. Argus puts Nigeria's crude production last month at 1.28mn b/d.


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