Libya crude exports 43.83 million barrels in April

Libya's crude oil exports totalled 43.83 million barrels in April, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said.

The NOC itself exported 37.281 million barrels, the state energy company said in a statement posted on its website, adding that the rest was exported by its partners. Local refineries consumed 4.361 million barrels. It added that average production during the month was 1.606 million barrels per day.

China resumes crude exports to North Korea

China has resumed crude oil exports to North Korea in March after halting supplies in February, with customs data showing 106,000 tonnes of supply in March.
Shipments have typically stopped in February over the last few years, and market participants were focusing on whether exports restarted as usual in March.
A continued halt may have indicated that Beijing was looking to pressure Pyongyang amid weeks of heightened hostility on the Korean peninsula. But exports over March actually rose 8.2 percent on the year, while the figure for the first quarter reached 159,002 tonnes, up 6.7 percent from the same period in 2012.
China is North Korea's only major supporter, but it has signalled its unease over Pyongyang's escalating threats in April.
Crude oil is the largest commodity by value that Beijing supplies to North Korea under an aid programme, which also includes diesel and aviation fuel.

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.

Mobil Lifts Force Majeure on Qua Iboe Oil Exports

Mobil Producing Nigeria has lifted its force majeure on Qua Iboe crude exports. The oil giant, on November 20, declared the force majeure on oil exports attributing it to the difficulty in meeting projected oil lifting, due to the repair work on a section of its pipeline affected in the November 9 oil release offshore Akwa Ibom.

The force majeure is a legal step that protects a company from liability when it cannot fulfill a contract for reasons beyond its control.

The US oil major operates two offshore oil blocks and a 960, 000 barrels per day crude export terminal, off the Akwa Ibom coastline. The company had shut down the affected facility to prevent damage to the environment.