The completion of repairs of sabotaged oil facilities is set to help push up Nigeria’s crude oil exports by 575,000 barrels, per day, in the last quarter of 2016.

ExxonMobil is the latest oil major to have a pipeline prepared to export Qua Iboe grade of crude, with the first cargo expected to load as early as the end of September, according to a Reuters report quoting trading sources.

Qua Iboe is Nigeria’s largest crude oil stream, exporting more than 300,000 barrels per day.

It had been under force majeure since July after a leak on the 48-inch pipeline carrying it to the export terminal.

The Shell, last week, lifted force majeure on Bonny Light, Nigeria’s benchmark crude oil grade, following the repair and reopening of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) by the pipeline’s operator, Aiteo.

The repairs of the NCTL potentially restored about 275, 000 barrels/day production shut-in since May 10, according to an NNPC June operation reports.

“It is a good boost for our revenue,” said Dolapo Oni, the head of energy research at Ecobank.

“Qua Iboe is another stream where Nigerian independents are affected.”

However, two other Nigerian crude oil grades, Forcados and Brass River, remained under force majeure.

The Shell had in February declared force majeure on lifting from the Forcados export terminal while in May, an Italian oil major, Eni, declared force majeure on the Brass River grade, following an attack on a key pipeline at the Brass Rivers terminal.

Exports of crude from the country have dropped to the lowest in almost 30 years, following the spate of production disruptions caused by militant attacks on oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta but the country’s oil production has remained resilient.

Source: www.allafrica.com