LONDON: More than 30 unsold Nigerian cargoes were seeking buyers, but demand for medium and heavier grades out of Angola was more buoyant, traders said. The December Angolan loading plans were due any day.
Nigeria's oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said he expected the country's oil production rate to jump by 22 percent by the year-end to 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from current levels, and added he hoped a force majeure on all its oil fields would be lifted by December or January.
Kachikwu also said Nigeria was likely to sign a cash-raising oil deal with India for $15 billion by the end of this year. India's oil ministry said Nigeria, whose economy has been hit hard by low oil prices and militancy, had requested an upfront payment.
A cargo of Ghana's TEN crude oil, the first export since it began flowing in August, was en route to Italy on the suezmax RED, which was chartered by Shell.
Nigeria's NNPC had added six companies to its 2016 crude oil contracts list, including Unipec and HPCL, according to a revised list on NNPC's website. Traders said the additions came at the beginning of the year. NIGERIA
The Everbright tanker, the first planned export of Forcados since February, loaded late on Friday and was en route to Europe.
The second Forcados loading, which is expected to sail to the US East Coast, was set to load this week.
Some buying interest for distillate-rich crude such as Bonga had helped pull differentials for that grade off the recent lows. Traders said it was going for a premium of around 40 cents to dated Brent.
Light sweet grades struggled to sell, and many were also waiting for the next Official Selling Prices from NNPC due later this week. ANGOLA
Under a handful of November cargoes were still up for sale, including Nemba and CLOV.
Nemba differentials had fallen sharply, with China's Unipec buying one cargo at a $1.60 per barrel discount to dated Brent, traders said. * The December loading programme is due within days, but a full list was not yet available on Monday evening.
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