SEATTLE (Oil Monster): The International Oil Company has purchased two million barrels of West African crude from ExxonMobil via a tender on Wednesday, Reuters said, quoting trade sources.
The purchase was for Mondo from Angola and Utapate from Nigeria, they added.
India became the biggest importer of Russian crude in the aftermath of Moscow’s 2022 Ukraine invasion.
According to a document reviewed by Reuters on Thursday, India Oil has also invited initial bids for 24 million barrels of oil from the Americas for the January to March quarter in 2026.
The tender seeks cargoes of both low-sulphur and high-sulphur crude oil grades, according to the document.
Since U’S imposed sanctions last week on Moscow’s top two producers, many Indian refiners have turned to the spot market for alternatives, industry sources told Reuters.
Indian Oil, the country’s biggest refiner, is looking to gauge market interest in the event that it needs to buy oil from the Americas, a source aware of the tender told Reuters.
The tender will close on Friday, the source added.
This is as oil prices slide again on Wednesday, the third day since the start of the week.
Drop in prices rode on the back of doubts about the effectiveness of Russia sanctions and a potential OPEC+ output increase, putting pressure on the market.
Brent crude futures were down 7 cents, or 0.11%, to $64.33 a barrel at 0511 WAT. U.S. OPEC daily basket price dropped to $67.54 per barrel from $68.33 recorded last week. The West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 7 cents, or 0.12%, to $60.08.
In the first half of 2025, Nigeria generated Naira 5.21 trillion from the sale of crude oil, gas, and other related activities.
Channels Television reported at the weekend, that Nigeria is expected to add new gas projects to boost exports following a ban placed by the European Union on the importation of Liquefied Natural Gas from Russia. Nigeria To Export More Gas After EU Ban On Russian LNG
On Tuesday, the CEO of Saudi state oil giant Aramco said crude oil demand was strong even before sanctions were imposed on Russian oil majors, and Chinese demand was still healthy.
OPEC+, the world’s largest group of oil-producing nations, is leaning towards a modest output boost in December, four sources familiar with the talks told Reuters, with two sources citing an additional 137,000 barrels per day.
Nigeria’s crude oil production in September 2025 was 1.39 million barrels per day (bpd), a drop from 1.434 million bpd in August. This decrease was caused by a three-day labor strike by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), which led to the shutdown of production and export facilities.
The September total production was 1.581 million bpd, consisting of 1.39 million bpd of crude oil and 191,373 bpd of condensates.
The Federal Government has said it would push for an increase in the country’s OPEC+ quota from current 1.5mb/d. The country targets production of 2.06mb/d.
Courtesy: www.channelstv.com
