The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has sold its first cargo of Port Harcourt low-sulfur straight-run fuel oil (LSSR) to Gulf Transport & Trading Limited (GTT), a Dubai-based firm.
The cargo, expected to be loaded in the coming days onto the Wonder Star MR1 vessel, marks the official start of operations at the Port Harcourt refinery and signals the exportation of petroleum products from the facility.
The Wonder Star MR1 will carry 15,000 metric tons of the product, equivalent to approximately 13.6 million liters. While the initial volume entering the global market is relatively small, this development is anticipated to influence Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) benchmarks in the future. It may also reshape market dynamics for Atlantic Basin exporters supplying Nigeria and other regions.
According to Kpler, a data and analytics company, the export has a sulfur content of 0.26% by weight and a density of 0.918 g/ml at 15°C. The cargo was sold at an $8.50 per ton discount to the NWE 0.5% benchmark on a Free on Board (FOB) basis.
Kpler further noted that this move could displace imports from traditional suppliers in Africa and Europe. As Nigeria’s imports of clean petroleum products (CPP) continue to decline, this trend is also contributing to reduced imports across the wider West African region.
