Production of Qua Iboe Crude, Nigeria’s largest crude oil stream, has plunged to its lowest level for the first time since 2010.
Latest crude/condensate production by streams data obtained from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) shows that output of the crude collapsed by about 41 per cent from 135 million barrels in 2010 to 79 million barrels in 2016, the year militant attacks cut Nigeria’s production to its lowest in decades.
Africa’s largest economy produces over 26 different crude oil grades, but Qua Iboe Light, Bonny Light, Agbami, Forcados Blend and Escravos Light have remained five of the main and largest streams produced over the years.
The DPR 2016 Oil and Gas Annual Report, which is the latest of the industry regulator’s annual activity report on the Nigerian oil and gas industry, shows that production of Qua Iboe, which averaged around 375,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2010, plunged to about 220,000 bpd in 2016. Output in 2015 was 350,000 barrels per day (bpd).
Qua Iboe is a light crude that produces high quality, low sulfur products after simple refining and it is produced from numerous offshore fields 20 to 40 miles South East of Nigeria.
Volumes are brought to shore via a seabed pipeline system to the Qua Iboe Terminal (QIT) located on the eastern side of the Qua Iboe River.
ExxonMobil operates the field where Qua Iboa is produced and holds 40 per cent interest with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) having the remaining 60 per cent.
The data indicate that Abgami crude, which production also dropped in 2016, displacing Qua Iboe as the highest crude oil grade being produced. 84 million barrels of Agbami were produced compared to 79 million barrels of Qua Iboe Crude in 2016.
Prolonged outages of Qua Iboe and other streams after series of attacks by militants on oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta in 2016 cut Nigeria’s output to around 1.2 million bpd, the lowest output since 1970.
Attacks on facilities operated by oil majors led to declaration of force majeure-a suspension of deliveries because of events beyond its control-on Qua Iboe Crude grade by ExxonMobil.
ExxonMobil, Shell and other operators have since repaired and reopened the pipelines, including the one that exports Qua Iboe grade.
