Sudan’s Nile Blend crude oil output back to normal

November 5, 2007 (SINGAPORE) — Sudan’s Nile Blend crude output is back to normal after damages caused by floods in August have been repaired, a senior official at India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said on Monday.

Full output has been restored since the last week of October and now stands below 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), said R.S. Butola, managing director for ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of ONGC.

“At the beginning of October, we started fixing the problems and production has now ramped up to over 240,000 bpd. The field is back to normal,” Butola said.

Heavy sweet Nile Blend crude is exported to Asia, with Japan and China the two largest buyers of the direct-burning grade. The return to full volumes could add up to 40,000 bpd of heavy sweet crude to the Asian market ahead of the winter season, when demand rises.

The floods, described by Sudanese officials as the worst in living memory, had affected blocks 1/2/4 where Nile Blend crude is produced, cutting output by 15 percent, a company official said last month.

India’s ONGC has a 25 percent stake in Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co (GNPOC), which operates blocks 1/2/4 and produces the low-sulphur, light sweet Nile Blend crude.

Other partners are state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) with a 40 percent stake, while Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas owns 30 percent. Five percent belongs to Sudan’s state-owned Sudapet.

GNPOC is struggling to maintain its production of 250,000 bpd, an official with the international joint venture said last week.

The field’s output has been slowly declining from a peak of around 325,000 bpd when it first started.

(Reuters)