Nigerian crude oil exports are expected to increase sharply in April after several months of lower production due to maintenance at key oilfields, trade and industry sources said on Tuesday. Initial tanker schedules for 10 of the 17 crude oil production streams in Nigeria show 51.3 million barrels, or 1.71 million barrels per day (bpd), of crude are due to load in April on 56 full or part cargoes. Reuters reports that data from the remaining streams are not yet available, but if the exports for those areas are similar to recent averages, Nigeria's total exports would be close to 63.7 million barrels, or around 2.12 million bpd in 71 full or part cargoes. That would take sales from Nigeria, back to levels not seen since January. Nigeriais scheduled to load around 1.86 million bpd in March in 65 cargoes, revised loading programmes show.
