Nigeria BLCO |
The extremely low sulfur content of
Bonny Light crude Oil makes it a very much-preferred grade because of its low corrosives to refinery infrastructure and the lower environmental impact of
its byproducts.
Other grades of Nigerian crude oil
are Brass River crude oil, Forcados crude oil, and Qua-Iboe Crude Oil. The
Bonny Light Crude Oil is in high demand especially by American and European
refineries.
Nigeria produces high value, light crude oils, low sulfur
content–Bonny Light, Bonny Medium, Odudu Blend, Antan Blend, Escravos Light, Brass
Blend, Forcados Blend, IMA, Ukpokiti , Pennington Light, and Qua-Iboe Light.
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through its
subsidiary the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) is directly in
charge of four oil and gas fields with overall production of 15,000 barrels per
day (BPD).
Petroleum production and export play a major role in
Nigeria’s financial system and account for almost 90% of her gross earnings.
This leading role has pushed farming, the traditional foundation of the
economy, from the fifties and sixties, to the background.
In the late sixties and seventies, Nigeria attained a
production level of over 2 million barrels of crude oil a day BPD, Even though
production statistics dropped by the eighties because of economic crash. There
was a complete rejuvenation of oil production to a record level of 2.5 million
barrels per day in the year 2004. Current development strategies are geared
towards increasing production.