Woodside Petroleum has offered the first Vincent crude cargo for export since production resumed at the $1.9 billion Greater Enfield project off western Australia, two trade sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
Output at the Vincent field, located 50 kilometers offshore Exmouth, Western Australia, had been suspended since May 2018 for expansion work.
The 550,000-barrel cargo was offered to load over Sept. 26-30 from the Ngujima-Yin floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) on a free-on-board basis in a tender due to be closed on Wednesday, the sources said. Bids will be valid until Thursday, they said.
The resumption of exports of Vincent crude will add to the supply of Australian low-sulphur, or sweet, crude oil, which has seen strong demand and record spot premiums this year as tightening environmental regulations on marine fuels - dubbed IMO 2020 - force the shipping industry to lower the sulphur content in fuels.
Other Australian heavy sweet crude grades Van Gogh and Pyrenees were traded at high premiums of $8-$14 for cargoes to load in September and October.
Woodside said in late August that it had started producing oil from the Greater Enfield reservoirs, which would make an important contribution to Woodside's targeted annual production of about 100 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2020.
The company operates the Greater Enfield project with a 60% stake, while Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd, a unit of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co, holds the remainder.
Vincent crude from the project is marketed jointly by Woodside and a Mitsui unit, Mitsui & Co. Energy Trading Singapore Pte Ltd.
(Reporting by Shu Zhang; Editing by Kim Coghill and Susan Fenton)