LONDON: Angolan oil exports will rise by more than 4 percent in December to around 1.74 million barrels per day (bpd) as the West African producer’s oilfields return to full production after several months of maintenance.
Exports from the country’s 12 major crude oil streams will reach their highest since August in December, up from 1.67 million bpd originally scheduled to load in both October and November, trade sources said .
The sources cited provisional loading programs from state oil company Sonangol as showing a total of 56 cargoes of varying sizes due to load in December, up from 52 cargoes in November.
Angola is Africa’s second largest producer, behind fellow OPEC member Nigeria. Its exports briefly rivaled Nigeria’s three years ago, but have since fallen back due to the natural decline of some oilfields and maintenance work.
Provisional loading programs are subject to change but tend to be a good guide to overall trends.
Slightly more crude than originally scheduled has loaded in October with the addition of two additional cargoes bringing overall exports to an average of 1.71 million bpd.
The four extra Angolan crude oil cargoes due to be exported in December are a 1 million-barrel cargo of Girassol, a 985,000-barrel cargo of Palanca, a 950,000-barrel cargo of Kissanje and a 920,000-barrel cargo of Kuito.
All other oil export streams are unchanged from November, the loading sheet shows.
The cargo loadings sheet makes no mention of the new “Saturno” oilfield, which had been expected to come on stream in the fourth quarter of this year and is due eventually to produce around 150,000 bpd, or up to five export cargoes per month.
A spokesman for the oilfield’s operator, BP, said the company still planned to start output in 2012.
“We are still talking about a start up by the end of the year,” the spokesman told Reuters. He declined to give details of the pace of the ramp-up.
A source close to the oilfield’s operations said recently that the first Saturno cargo could load this year. But a West African crude oil trader said the first cargo could not now load until January.
“We expect to see the new grade early in the New Year,” said the trader with a large European refiner.
Angola’s crude oil exports fell their lowest in 15 months in September at only just over 1.5 million bpd, hit by a combination of maintenance, various seasonal factors and an anticipated lull in Chinese demand for key grades.
Chinese buyers have become increasingly important to Sonangol and the rest of the West African market because US companies have gradually reduced their imports of light, sweet crude oil due to rising domestic production.
Output of oil from shale deposits in Texas, North Dakota and other midwestern states has reduced imports from Africa by more than 1 million bpd over the last 18 months, official data show.
This has helped depress the value of some key West African crude oil grades, which have had to find alternative markets in Asia and in Europe.
Traders say the addition of the new Saturno grade and other offshore streams could eventually help propel Angolan exports back up toward record levels seen in 2009, when the country’s crude oil production hit a high of 1.93 million bpd.
Angolan oil exports to rise 4% in December
