In light of the disrupted Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) pipeline, Nigeria has resorted to using small river vessels to transport its oil to other vessels.
According to Bloomberg, NCTL was previously used to transport the oil to the Bonny terminal, operated by Shell Plc. However, the pipeline, now managed by the Aiteo Group, has remained inactive since February 2022. In the coming months, Nigeria is set to load approximately 65,000 barrels per day of this new Nembe Creek grade as it aims to compensate for the reduced flows from Bonny.
As a result, Bloomberg reports that the new logistics setup includes a floating storage offloading vessel, the Galilean 7, which takes 24 river vessel deliveries to fill a standard oil vessel.
However, transporting Nembe Creek oil through river vessels is more expensive than using pipelines due to the river’s shallow depth, which limits the size of ships that can navigate it.
