Sudan April Nile Blend oil output down at 275,000bpd

March 23, 2007 (SINGAPORE) — Sudan’s Nile Blend crude will flow at a daily rate of close to 275,000 barrels next month, a lifting schedule seen on Friday showed.

The April output is slightly lower than the 300,000-320,000 barrels per day (bpd) at which the field was producing in the past few years and may herald depleting rates as the field ages.

The Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co. (GNPOC), which operates the field, expects to exports 6.060 million barrels (202,000 bpd), while 2.100 million barrels (70,000 bpd) will head to two refineries in Sudan.

Heavy sweet Nile Blend crude is exported to Asia, with Japan and China the two largest buyers of the direct-burning grade.

Sudan estimates average oil production for 2007 at 520,000 bpd as new fields are now fully on stream after last year’s delay, the finance minister said earlier this month.

Al-Zubeir Ahmed al-Hassan said the actual average oil production for 2006 was at 365,000 bpd.

GNPOC is a consortium of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) with a 40 percent stake, Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas (30 percent) and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (25 percent). Five percent belongs to Sudanese state-owned Sudapet.

(Reuters)