…As Nigeria’s oil exports to hit four-month high in October***

Nigeria earned as much as N7.93 trillion ($26 billion) from oil exports between January and July this year, making it the sixth largest revenue earner among Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, member nations.

This is according to the OPEC revenues fact sheet report, published by the US Energy Information Administration, EIA. The report said the 15-member producers’ group earned a total of N127.2 trillion ($417 billion) in the period under review.

Oil prices rose by a significant two per cent on Wednesday to exceed the $74 mark, the highest recorded in the last two weeks. Of this, Nigeria accounted for 6.24 per cent of the total net export revenue, taking adjustments for inflation into consideration. Saudi Arabia got the largest share with oil export earnings at N38.4 trillion ($126 billion), while Equatorial Guinea and Ecuador contributed the lowest. Angola, Nigeria’s closest rival in Africa, also earned N6.41 trillion ($21 billion) in the first seven months of 2018. Meanwhile, Brent crude, which is the international benchmark of crude oil, rose by $1.48 to $74.11 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose by $1.49 to $67.33 a barrel. According to loading schedules for August and September, 30 crude oil cargoes are still in the country awaiting buyers. By October, Nigerian oil supply is projected to hit a three-month high with a total of 38 cargoes, derived from daily loadings averaging 1.12 million barrels. The sufficient supply of West African crude cargoes has been limited by a slowdown in oil demand from Asia, having little to no effect on global oil prices.

In the meantime, Nigeria’s oil exports are expected to rise to their highest in four months in October, thanks to supply of several larger grades coming back online following a series of pipeline outages in the last couple of months.

Loading of Nigerian crude will rise to 1.73 million barrels per day, from September’s 1.41 million bpd, Reuters reported yesterday.October’s will be the largest programme since June this year, but is smaller than last year’s 1.768 million bpd.

The export plan comprised 57 cargoes, compared with 48 cargoes in September’s loading schedule.Both the Qua Iboe and the Forcados streams will load fewer cargoes, while Bonny Light contains the same number of cargoes and Escravos will load one extra.

Exports of these three major streams will drop 14 per cent in October to around 540,000 bpd from September’s 630,000 bpd rate. The export plans showed several smaller streams would add at least one cargo in October, including Pennington, Okwori and Antan. Nigerian oil export plans are prone to revisions and delays, with cargoes frequently pushed from one month to the next.

Meanwhile, recent reports showed that 32 crude oil cargoes are sitting in Nigeria and waiting for buyers, quoting trading sources who said the cargoes were part of the country’s loading schedule for August and September, and there is still chance to sell them by the end of next month.

The news comes amid a slowdown in oil demand from the biggest consumers of the commodity: Asian economies, whose growth has been faltering recently.Angola is raising its shipments abroad, Reuters also reported. The country sold 47 cargoes for loading in September and now plans to sell another 49 for loading in October.

The news might suggest there is plenty of oil supply, or at least plenty of Nigerian oil supply: another Reuters report from this week said that Nigerian oil supply might hit a three-month high in October, with daily loadings at 1.12 million barrels, to a total of at least 38 cargoes.

Nigerian supply may be plentiful, but its effect on benchmark prices is limited: despite the reports, which clearly suggest ample supply of West African crude, prices inched up Wednesday as concern about the supply squeeze due to follow the re-imposition of United States (U.S.) sanctions against Iran deepened. The sentiment was helped by the American petroleum Institute’s report of an estimated 5.2-million-barrel draw in crude oil inventories for the week to August 17.

Although official figures from the Energy Information Administration will be released Thursday, the market regularly reacts to API’s estimates. It also reacted favorably to an announcement from the White House that 11 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will be sold soon.This reserves sale is part of a previously announced drawdown for fiscal year 2019 but it will be done now, ahead of the last round of Iranian sanctions, due to come into effect on November 4.

Vanguard with additional report from Guardian NG