COVID 19: Buyers Abandon $16 bn Nigerian Crude, Shell, Exxon Mobil Mull Shut Down

By Rita Adedoyin

Nigerian crude oil worth over $16 billion is currently stranded in the high seas for lack of buyers.

If the situation persists, many of these tankers could be sent back to the country, thus worsening the economic situation which has been badly hit due to shrinking oil revenue, experts have warned.

Busineses have slowed, due to shutdown in major global economies in China, Europe and US as countries battle to contain the COVID 19 pandemic.

Crude oil market has been hit hard as a result of health the emergency, leading to an all time fall of the product to less than $20 per barrel,,analysts say.

In spite of the drift in price, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC said it could not find buyers for Nigerian oil.

According to a report by Wall Street Journal, over 84 million barrel of Nigerian crude is now stranded in the high looking for buyers.

The specialised journal had in an April 27 report, the said cargo ships filled with Nigerian crude had nowhere to go and Nigerian oil companies were competing to fill the “last few empty tankers still left at sea”.

The tankers are coming from production fields managed by Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil, the report said, adding that the reason why the crude are loaded in the tankers, is due to the fact that they cannot be stored in Nigerian oil fields which are already old and outdated.

Shutting the oil field down, it further said portends grave danger as it will be difficult to get them.back to operation due to old age.Meanwhile, there are fears of scarcity of vessels soon,,experts say.

When this happens, it could lead to the total collapse of the oil market.

The newspaper has reported that a Nigerian ta0nker was turned back from the US Gulf Coast and it returned to the Canary Islands, where other Nigerian-hired ships are idled.