Millions of barrels of Nigerian crude oil and other West African crude oil are piling up due to the cut in oil demand in Asian countries, which is a ripple of the coronavirus.
Bloomberg reports that oil traders are finding it uneasy to sell their products, because China and European refiners have reduced purchase.
The millions of barrels which are yet to be sold would compete against million of barrels of new stocks scheduled for export in march, which have not been purchased.
While according to the source, 70% of Nigerian and Angolan April cargoes are yet to find buyers, as demand had declined.
It would take a month or more for the April cargoes to reach China, which is May or June, while it is uncertain to predict the demand level in the months in view of the COVID-19 spread.
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It is estimate that 55 Nigerian cargoes and 18 Angolan’s have yet to find buyers, due to the demand for crude in China which has suffered its lowest fall in recent weeks as a result of the virus.
Nigeria’s April export is yet to be sold, while about half of Angola’s planned shipments for April also have no buyers.
Nigeria and Angola would ship close to 100 cargoes in April, this tells that consignments are about 70%, while under normal trading condition, 50% of the oil should have been sold.
Meanwhile shipments from smaller producers like Gabon, Chad and Republic of Congo are yet to find buyers.