The state-run oil firm cut by at least $1 per barrel its official selling prices, OSPs, for 20 out of 26 Nigeria’s oil grades to attract more buyers.
According to the pricing lists monitored by Bloomberg, Qua Iboe, Nigeria’s largest export crude was reduced the most.
Bonny Light and Forcados are among those also offered at a discount.
The Group General Manager of NNPC’s Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD), Mele Kyari, said by phone that the price reductions were due to a “huge cargo overhang” as the country attempted to regain market share.
Nigeria’s crude shipments are gradually resuming after militants attacks crumbled production.
Lower prices are a sign Nigeria is seeking to become more competitive in an already oversupplied global market.
The price reduction may not also be unconnected with the complaints of high official selling prices raised by five companies that market the nation’s crude.
However, Kyari said, yesterday, that the pricing decisions were unrelated to those “complaints.”
Nigeria sells oil cargoes at government-set official prices to buyers. COMD quotes OSPs monthly for each of Nigeria’s 26 crude grades. Typically, most of those grades would be supplied within a $2 dollar range above or below key benchmarks that typically track futures markets.
