Nigeria’s national oil company, NNPC, is set to launch a new crude oil grade called Cawthorne in March, aiming to boost the country’s oil production and strengthen its position within OPEC. The Cawthorne grade, with an API gravity of 36.4 and low sulfur content, is expected to be exported via the Floating Storage and Offloading vessel Cawthorne, which has a storage capacity of 2.2 million barrels.

This new grade joins recently introduced Utapate (2024) and Obodo (2025) grades as part of Nigeria’s efforts to increase its official output quotas. The first cargo of Cawthorne is scheduled for export in the third week of March, and it’s expected to contribute to Nigeria’s crude oil production, which currently stands at 1.48 million barrels per day, below its OPEC+ quota of 1.5 million barrels per day.

The introduction of Cawthorne is part of NNPC’s broader strategy to boost production, which has been constrained by pipeline vandalism, crude theft, and unrest in oil-producing regions. Analysts predict that Cawthorne could help increase Nigeria’s crude and condensate supply to around 1.7 million barrels per day for the rest of the year.