Inaugural cargo of Niger's heavy sweet crude en route to Mediterranean

Niger's first export cargo of heavy sweet crude is en route to the Mediterranean, shipping data and trading sources reported May 20, as the African country officially joins the ranks of the world's oil exporters.

The Front Cascade tanker loaded 1.1 million barrels of Niger's "Meleck" crude from Benin's Seme port over the weekend of May 18-19 -- thanks to the newly opened Niger-Benin oil pipeline -- and set off for Europe on May 19, according to data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea(opens in a new tab).

The Suezmax loaded at a single point mooring registered to the West African Oil Pipeline (Niger & Benin) Company, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp.

A trading source said May 20 that the tanker was heading to the south of France, while ship-tracking data appeared to show it was bound for Spain.

Spain imports around 1.3 million b/d of crude in April, with the US, Brazil, Nigeria and Mexico its biggest suppliers, according to CAS data. Meanwhile, France imports around 837,000 b/d in April from countries including the US, Nigeria and Russia.

Niger's new Meleck export grade has an 24.4 API gravity and sulfur content of 0.354%, according to CNPC, making it medium/heavy and sweet. Comparable crudes include Angola's heavy sweet Pazflor and Dalia grades, which are sold primarily into China.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, last assessed Dalia at $82.21/b on May 17, down from a recent peak of $91.20/b on April 5.

The maiden cargo, first reported on May 17 by Commodity Insights, marks the start-up of the 110,000 b/d pipeline, constructed by CNPC, which is set to effectively quintuple production from Niger's Agadem Rift Basin oilfields.

Currently the landlocked country produces just 20,000 b/d, which is used domestically due to the lack of an export route. A military coup in the landlocked country in July 2023 briefly threw the pipeline project into jeopardy.

Along with development of the fields by CNPC, the 2,000 km pipeline will allow for a very rapid ramp-up in production. Sources said the pipeline would start up at 90,000 b/d.

Meanwhile, London-listed Savannah Energy, the only Western oil company operating in Niger, plans to bring a new 1,500 b/d oil project online in the coming months before ramping up to 5,000 b/d.

The inaugural exports follow a recent war of words between the governments of Niger and Benin. Following Niger's coup, regional bloc ECOWAS imposed sanctions on the country(opens in a new tab), effectively closing the border with Benin. However, the sanctions were lifted in March 2024, allowing CNPC to complete the pipeline and fill storage tanks in Benin.

China is understood to have mediated in recent days as the two nations continued to quarrel publicly. Benin's government granted provisional authorization on May 16 for the first ship to load Nigerien oil at the Seme platform.

"This is a major milestone in Niger's economic history -- akin to the development of uranium mining in the 1970s," Jim Burkhard, Commodity Insights vice president of oil markets, energy and mobility, said. "It is a notable oil market development as well -- Niger is set to become the world's newest oil exporter. And it is adding to world oil supply growth taking place outside of OPEC+."

OPEC+, a coalition of OPEC and other oil producers, is set to meet in Vienna on June 1 and is looking to boost its market share to help it stabilize the oil market.