Nigeria's NNPC Offers Cawthorne and Bonny Light Crude Oil for Sale

Nigeria's state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), has issued a new tender to sell two cargoes of crude oil. The first cargo is Cawthorne crude, which is scheduled to load September 21-22 and comprises 950,000 barrels. This is alongside another cargo of Bonny Light, also 950,000 barrels, set to load September 30-October 1.

Both cargoes are being sold on a free-on-board basis, with bids due by 8 p.m. West Africa Time (1900 GMT) on August 4. The steady cadence of Cawthorne tenders suggests the grade is settling into a regular export rhythm as Nigeria works to rebuild output closer to its OPEC quota.

Bonny Light remains a core part of the country's export mix, with a preliminary loading programme showing it will load roughly 364,000 barrels a day across 12 cargoes. The tenders come as sellers of West African crude grades have begun nudging offer levels higher in recent trading sessions due to supply risks mounting in the Middle East.

Nigerian grades, which are light and typically low in sulfur, tend to draw strong demand from refiners in Europe and Asia, particularly when Middle Eastern supply is clouded by geopolitical risk. Analysts say any sustained disruption to flows through the Strait of Hormuz could prompt buyers to lean more heavily on alternative sources such as West African crude.