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How newly discovered ‘Superlight’ crude by Kuwait is a bad news for Nigeria
Nigeria’s Asian customers may find the new little sweet crude more easy to refine than Nigeria’s light Brent.
Nigeria’s light Brent, commonly referred to as ‘Sweet Crude’, is most preferred crude oil grades by many oil importing country. This is because the grade is easy to refine and contains less sulphur than the regular grade in the international oil market.
Light crude is easier and less expensive to produce. Also, it has a higher percentage of light hydrocarbons that can be recovered by simple distillation at a refinery. The crude grade also receives a higher price than heavy crude oil due to this condition.
At present, it is only Iran that has such light grade as Nigeria but the international sanctions are restricting its export. As such, many Asian refiners find Nigeria the most suitable for their operation.
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As at September 2017, about 29% of Nigeria’s crude oil exports end up in Asia, mostly India and Indonesia, and other hubs in China, Japan and South Korea. According to reports by EnergyMix, one of Asia’s major refiner has tested samples of Kuwait’s new “Super Light” crude oil and found it suitable.
A development that poses a great threat to Nigeria’s government revenue and macroeconomic stability of Nigeria.
Kuwait Petroleum Corp is also planning to launch its first new export grade in decades. More so, a number of crude oil refiners in Asia have shown interest in testing the new grade.
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