Nigerian crude oil exports to fall in March

Nigerian crude oil exports are set to fall by around 2.9 percent in March from February in the face of slack demand, data from traders.

Africa's top oil exporter is due to export around 1.95 million barrels per day (bpd) compared with a revised 2.00 million bpd due to be exported in January, provisional shipping list data from traders compiled by Reuters showed.
Nigeria will export around 368,000 barrels per day (bpd) of the benchmark Qua Iboe grade crude oil in March on 12 tankers, down from 407,000 bpd in February when exports were set to recover after dropping in previous months due to a force majeure.
Some 215,000 bpd of Forcados will be exported compared to 244,642 scheduled to be exported in February.
However due to slack demand, not all of the February cargoes attracted buyers and three of the March cargoes were held over from February.
Flows of West African crude are being closely watched as production in the United States and Canada are growing, while demand in Europe is falling due to increased energy efficiency and lacklustre demand.