Sudan’s Dar Blend crude exports rise to 230,000bpd

July 11, 2007 (SINGAPORE) — Sudan is exporting around 230,000 barrels per day of Dar Blend crude this month and next, up by nearly half from earlier this year thanks to the launch of a new terminal, a shipping source said on Wednesday.

“The schedule for July and August is the same of about 7 tankers with each one loading about 1 million barrels each per call,” a Sudan based port said. He said a total of 7.22 million barrels would have been loaded from June 15 to July 15.

Shipments are running higher than the initially estimated 200,000 bpd export target, and shipping sources have said exports could rise as high as 260,000 bpd, up from around 160,000 bpd earlier this year when infrastructure limited shipments.

Exports were due to have started from the new terminal earlier, but because of ongoing pipeline work the plan was pushed back, putting a cap on Sudan’s crude exports.

Sudan Energy Minister Awad Ahmed al-Jaz told Reuters in June that Dar Blend exports stood at 200,000 bpd, while total Sudan production was running at 500,000 bpd.

The Dar Blend field is operated by Petrodar, a consortium comprising China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) with a 41 percent stake, Malaysia’s Petronas [PETR.UL] with 40 percent, and state oil firm Sudapet with 8 percent.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) holds 6 percent of Petrodar, while Al Thani Corp., a private company incorporated in the United Arab Emirates, owns 5 percent.

European trader Vitol was selected in 2005 to market up to 3.6 million barrels a month of Dar Blend crude, but that contract is expected to end within the next few months.

Jaz said that Sudan was expected to sell its share of the Dar Blend production via tenders to be held every three months.

China is the largest buyer of Dar Blend crude.

Sudan is planning to export as much higher-quality Nile Blend crude as it can, while processing maximum volumes of the high-acidity Dar Blend and exporting oil products.

(Reuters)