Nigeria to start exporting new crude grade in March, further boosting output

Nigeria’s state oil firm NNPC will begin exporting a new light, sweet crude grade called Cawthorne from March, an NNPC spokesperson said, adding to a recent recovery in output from Africa’s top exporter.

The launch is part of Nigeria’s broader push to lift production, long constrained by unrest and crude theft, and follows the introduction of two other new grades since 2024.

Nigeria, already pumping close to its OPEC quota, is among the countries seeking a higher target within the producer group.

Cawthorne crude, which is due to be exported in the third week of March according to a source familiar with the matter, has an API gravity of 36.4, making it similar in quality to Nigeria’s Bonny Light, valued for its high yields of gasoline and diesel.

NNPC last week issued a tender for the grade for March 24-25, a trader said.

The grade is expected to be exported through the Floating Storage and Offloading vessel Cawthorne, analysts at Kpler said in a note, which has a capacity of 2.2 million barrels and aims to boost crude oil transportation and production from Oil Mining Lease 18 and surrounding assets in the country’s Eastern Niger Delta.

Based on the vessel’s storage constraints, Cawthorne could lift Nigeria’s crude and condensate supply from roughly 1.65 million barrels per day currently to around 1.7 million bpd for the rest of the year, Kpler said.

Nigeria’s OPEC+ crude output quota is 1.5 million bpd and the country pumped 1.48 million bpd in January, based on OPEC data. Other grades Nigeria has launched in recent years include Obodo in 2025 and Utapate in 2024.