The volume of crude from West Africa heading to Asia has jumped to 1.77million barrels per day in July compared with a total of 1.69m b/d in June, the lowest since October 2015, according to traders and analysis of loading programmes obtained from Bloomberg.
Angola and Nigeria would account for more than 90 percent of the 1.77m b/d July increase, the survey showed.Analysts say sustained appetite for West African crude has been helped by healthy refinery margins in the Far East.
A breakdown of the Bloomberg data showed that 58 cargoes of crude would be shipped to Asia in July from Angola, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, DR Congo, Republic of Congo, Chad, Ghana, Cameroon and Gabon. 402, 000 b/d of Nigerian crude was destined for Asia, the most volume since April.
In all, 52 consignments or 1.57m b/d were due for export in July to destinations worldwide.
