- API gravity
- 31.5°1
- Sulphur
- 0.22 wt%
- Acidity (TAN)
- 0.33 mg KOH/g
- Pour point
- +5 °C
- Barrels per tonne
- 7.25 derived2
- Standard cargo
- 950,000 bbl3
Evidence basis: Company-reported Company-published assay, dated 1 March 2014. Crude quality varies from cargo to cargo; in any transaction the certificate of quality for the specific lifting governs, not a published assay.
Forcados: quality and origin
Forcados is a medium-gravity, low-sulphur blend from the western Niger Delta, loaded at the Forcados terminal in Delta State. It is prized for its gasoil yield rather than its lightness: on the TotalEnergies assay, 53.9% of the barrel by weight falls in the 175–400 °C gasoil cut, while naphtha yields are modest.1
The detailed public assay is old — dated March 2014 — and gives 31.5° API, 0.22% sulphur, a total acid number of 0.33, a pour point of +5 °C and 7% wax.1 Argus Media's current "typical" quality for price assessment is 30° API and 0.15% sulphur,3 while the EIA table shows 32° and 0.20%.4 A buyer should treat 30–32° API as the plausible range and rely on the cargo's own quality certificate.
Terminal and evacuation
The terminal and the fields behind it passed from Shell's SPDC to Renaissance Africa Energy in March 2025.5 Forcados was the country's second-largest stream in August 2026 at 317.40 thousand b/d.6 Crude reaches the terminal through the Trans-Forcados pipeline, whose age has led at least one producer to barge crude to a separate floating storage unit instead7 — a reminder that loading schedules for pipeline-fed grades carry disruption risk.
Who buys it
Documented purchases include Pertamina of Indonesia8 and a 2026 tender in which India's HPCL bought Forcados alongside Bonga.9
Distillation yields
| Cut | Yield (wt%) |
|---|---|
| Light naphtha (15–80 °C) | 3.81 |
| Heavy naphtha (80–175 °C) | 15.38 |
| Kerosene (150–230 °C) | 13.01 |
| Gasoil (175–400 °C) | 53.93 |
| Residue (>375 °C) | 30.37 |
| Vacuum residue (>550 °C) | 7.52 |
Other assay values: density 867.5 kg/m³; viscosity 11.4 cSt at 10 °C; 3.5 cSt at 50 °C; nickel 4.1 and vanadium 0.8 mg/kg; wax 7 wt%.1
How published figures compare
Publishers quote different qualities for Forcados 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, 1 March 20141 | 31.5 | 0.22 | Company-reported |
| Argus typical, Aug 20263 | 30 | 0.15 | Industry |
| EIA table, Nov 20254 | 32 | 0.2 | Government |
Loading, operator and output
- Loading point
- Forcados Terminal (offshore SPMs) — see the export terminal database
- Operator
- Renaissance Africa Energy Company (operator of the former SPDC joint venture)5
- Producing area
- Onshore and swamp western Niger Delta, Delta State
- Status
- Active
- Reported output
- 289.9 thousand b/d — FORCADOS stream, crude plus condensate, May 2026.10 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
- 7.25 barrels per tonne at this gravity (our derived figure) — the barrels-to-tonnes converter has Forcados as a preset
- Checking an offer
- A genuine Forcados 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 Forcados by API gravity. The comparison tool puts any of them side by side.