French oil major Total said today it will conduct maintenance work on its Angolan offshore crude ship Dalia in April, which oil traders said will reduce crude exports from the central African country.
Total said today maintenance will start in April, without specifying the duration or the production impact.
Oil trading sources said the maintenance work would reduce supplies in April.
A provisional Angolan loading programme for April showed that there will be only four Dalia cargoes available for export compared with between seven and eight monthly for January-March.
“Dalia is under maintenance in the second half of April,” a trader told Reuters.
The total volume of Angolan exports in April will fall to 1.54 million barrels per day from around 1.73 million bpd in March, a provisional loading schedule shows.
A programme for May exports has not yet emerged.
The Dalia field has a capacity of around 240,000 bpd and produces heavy, low-sulphur crude popular among Chinese buyers.
Angola is Africa’s second largest crude oil exporter after Nigeria.
