Nigeria's first cargo of light sweet Cawthorne crude ships to India

Nigeria has exported the first cargo of its new Cawthorne export grade, a spokesperson for the Nigerian National Petroleum Co. told Platts March 30, with ship-tracking data showing it heading to India.

"NNPC shipped the first cargo of the new Cawthorne crude at the weekend. A total of 950,000 barrels of crude was exported from the FSO Cawthorne," the NNPC spokesperson told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy.

Ship-tracking data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea shows the cargo is being delivered to India's Sikka port. Sikka is home to the 1.36 million b/d Reliance-owned Jamnagar refinery, which has sought to diversify its crude slate following sanctions on Russian energy and amid the Middle East war.

NNPC said previously that the new grade is light and sweet, comparable to Nigeria's flagship Bonny Light crude.

Cawthorne crude is being produced from OML 18, in the eastern division of the Niger Delta, which has long been plagued by crude theft and sabotage.

NNPC is the operator of the block, which contains the Awoba and Buguma fields. OML 18 was previously operated by supermajor Shell.

Sahara Group – NNPC's partner in OML 18 – also confirmed March 30 that the first barrels of Cawthorne had lifted over the weekend, adding that FSO facility would be "strategic in strengthening Nigeria's energy security through its reliable production, storage and evacuation infrastructure".

"The successful commencement of crude lifting from FSO Cawthorne is a significant milestone for the OML 18 partnership and a strong demonstration of what can be achieved through shared vision, technical discipline and committed collaboration," a company statement quoted Sahara's head of commercial and planning, Tosin Etomi, as saying.

Etomi said advanced technologies were deployed on the 2.2-million-barrel FSO Cawthorne, incorporating cutting-edge systems supported by artificial intelligence.

NNPC and Sahara Group are joined by Lagos-based Eroton E&P and Bilton Energy in the ownership of OML 18, which should hit peak production of 50,000 b/d, according to industry data.

Nigeria has been pushing to boost its crude production and exports since the election of President Bola Tinubu in May 2023. Demand for West African crude has been rising with the US-Israeli war in Iran hitting crude supply from the Persian Gulf.

The country pumped 1.48 million b/d in February after the huge Bonga deepwater field went offline for scheduled maintenance, according to government estimates.

Nigeria's total production capacity is said to be around 2.2 million b/d, but years of underinvestment, field maturation and crude theft have tanked output over the past decade.

To reverse this trend, Tinubu has signed a series of executive orders promising fiscal incentives for operators to drive inbound investment, while permitting local firms to take over mature onshore fields from IOCs, allowing the latter to focus on deepwater projects.