Nigeria's crude oil exports for January 2017 are expected to increase as cargoes of Forcados which were initially scheduled for the end of December are not expected to load as planned, loading programmes revealed.

A group of loading programmes revealed that a total of 55 cargoes (1.64 million barrels per day) of crude oil are scheduled to load in January compared to the previous export plans of 1.63 million bpd in December. This figure dropped after an attack by militants stopped Forcados exports. December loadings of the Forcados grade had been planned at 285,000 bpd. January loading plans were still lacking some smaller grades, but they doubled the number of Agbami cargoes, for a total of eight in January, as scheduled maintenance had interrupted the December exports for the grade.

The Exports of the largest stream, Qua Iboe and Usan, were also doubled adding two more cargoes each compared with December, while Bonga and Brass River programmes each had one more cargo than that of December, according to Reuters.

Exports of Nigeria's Forcados crude oil are not likely to resume until early 2017, according to traders.

The grade has been under force majeure since February after a militant attack on its main export pipeline, the Trans Forcados. The pipeline resumed operations in October, letting some cargoes to load, but fresh militant attacks at the beginning of this month took the line out again, shutting in over 200,000 barrels per day.

Anita Fatunji