The average daily output of Utapate, Nigeria’s new low-sulphur crude oil grade, has risen to 32,000 barrels per day, the Federal Government has said.
It disclosed this in a report obtained on Wednesday from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, which stated that a total of 996,070 barrels of Utapate was produced in August, up from the 754,222 barrels produced in July.
It was gathered that 567,302 barrels of the low-sulphur crude were made in June while 309,434 barrels were pumped out in May when the crude was first produced.
In an August statement, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited disclosed that it had commenced selling the new crude oil blend to the international market.
The Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC, Olufemi Soneye, said the product was extracted from its Oil Mining Lease 13, a facility fully operated by NNPC Exploration and Production Limited.
“Utapate’s current crude oil production is at 28,000 barrels per day, with the potential to increase it to 50,000 barrels per day. Also, the sulphur content of the new crude is 0.0655 per cent,” Soneye said.
