- API gravity
- 34.9°1
- Sulphur
- 0.15 wt%
- Acidity (TAN)
- 0.26 mg KOH/g
- Pour point
- -18 °C
- Barrels per tonne
- 7.40 derived2
- Standard cargo
- 950,000 bbl3
Evidence basis: Company-reported Company-published assay, dated 18 June 2020. Crude quality varies from cargo to cargo; in any transaction the certificate of quality for the specific lifting governs, not a published assay.
Bonny Light: quality and origin
Bonny Light is Nigeria's best-known export grade and the country's component in the OPEC Reference Basket.4 It is a light, low-sulphur blend gathered from onshore and shallow-water fields in the eastern Niger Delta and loaded at the Bonny terminal in Rivers State. The most recent assay published by an equity holder — TotalEnergies, dated June 2020 — gives 34.9° API and 0.15% sulphur by weight, with a total acid number of 0.26 mg KOH/g and a pour point of −18 °C.1
On that assay roughly half the barrel falls in the 175–400 °C gasoil range and vacuum residue above 550 °C is only 7.4% by weight, with no measurable asphaltenes in the residue.1 In our reading, that distillate-rich, low-residue profile is why the grade has long suited simple and medium-complexity refineries making diesel and jet fuel.
Why you will see API figures from 32 to 35
Bonny Light is a blend, so its quality moves with the mix of fields feeding the terminal. Volumes from OML 29 and OML 18 that formerly flowed into Bonny are now sold separately as Nembe (since November 2023) and Cawthorne (since April 2026).56 Older specification sheets still circulating online quote about 32.9° API; we have not been able to open a dated primary source for that figure, and no source we have opened supports values above 35°. A specification sheet with no laboratory name and no assay date tells you nothing about a cargo loading today.
A note on "BLCO"
"BLCO" is an abbreviation for Bonny Light crude oil used almost exclusively in broker-market offers (it is one of the terms in our glossary of broker-market jargon). It does not appear in NNPC's tender or contract documents, which refer simply to Nigerian crude oil grades.78 The term itself is harmless, but offers built around it frequently show the warning signs described in our verification centre.
Who buys it
Documented recent movements include Bonny Light delivered to the Dangote refinery in Nigeria in mid-20259 and a first-ever 500,000-barrel cargo sold by Vitol to Pakistan Refinery for September 2025 loading.10 Historically the grade has flowed mainly to Europe, India and the US East Coast — see destination markets.
Distillation yields
| Cut | Yield (wt%) |
|---|---|
| Light naphtha (15–80 °C) | 6.1 |
| Heavy naphtha (80–175 °C) | 17.8 |
| Kerosene (150–230 °C) | 14.5 |
| Gasoil (175–400 °C) | 50.1 |
| Residue (>375 °C) | 29.2 |
| Vacuum residue (>550 °C) | 7.4 |
Other assay values: density 850 kg/m³; viscosity 8.0 cSt at 10 °C; 3.0 cSt at 50 °C; nickel 3.6 and vanadium 0.5 mg/kg.1
How published figures compare
Publishers quote different qualities for Bonny Light because assays are run years apart on a stream whose field mix changes, and because price-reporting agencies publish rounded "typical" values. We show the figures side by side rather than silently choosing one.
| Source | API | Sulphur wt% | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| TotalEnergies Trading, 18 June 20201 | 34.9 | 0.15 | Company-reported |
| Argus typical, Aug 20263 | 34.5 | 0.14 | Industry |
| EIA table, Nov 202511 | 35 | 0.15 | Government |
| OIES body text, 202012 | 32.1 | 0.16 | Industry |
Loading, operator and output
- Loading point
- Bonny Oil & Gas Terminal (offshore SBMs) — see the export terminal database
- Operator
- Renaissance Africa Energy Company (operator of the NNPC 55% / Renaissance 30% / TotalEnergies 10% / Eni-AENR 5% joint venture)13
- Producing area
- Onshore and shallow-water eastern Niger Delta, Rivers State
- Status
- Active
- Reported output
- 293.9 thousand b/d — BONNY stream, crude plus condensate, May 2026.14 This is production by stream, not exports; part of some streams is delivered to Nigerian refineries.
- Pricing basis
- A differential to Dated Brent — see how Nigerian crude is priced
- Volume conversion
- 7.40 barrels per tonne at this gravity (our derived figure) — the barrels-to-tonnes converter has Bonny Light as a preset
- Checking an offer
- A genuine Bonny Light cargo traces back to the operator and loading point above. See who can lawfully sell Nigerian crude and the verification centre before engaging any seller
Comparable grades
The Nigerian grades closest to Bonny Light by API gravity. The comparison tool puts any of them side by side.