Loadings of Doba, Chad's only export grade crude oil, will be set at 3.8 million barrels in July, up 33.33% from June, according to a copy of the country's loading schedule seen Thursday by Platts.
Four cargoes of 950,000 barrels each will load in July, compared to three in June.
And, average loadings will rise to 122,581 b/d in July compared to 95,000 b/d in June.
ExxonMobil, Chevron, Glencore and Petronas have a cargo each for the July program.
Sources said production of this grade was expected to increase midway through the year and this program is evidence of it, as new oil fields in Chad, especially the Badila field, start to feed into the Doba blend.
"[The monthly Doba export programs] will now be four or five cargoes going forward I think, with new production added," said a trader.
Trading sources have also said the nature of Doba crude was expected to change slightly because of these new oil fields.
Doba crude has been selling briskly so far this year with especially strong demand from the US and Japan, sources said.
As Doba is a very acidic grade, some buyers use Doba as direct-burning crude for power generation, trading sources said.
Oil major ExxonMobil is operator of the Doba field, with a 40% interest, while Petronas holds 35% and Chevron 25%.
Doba crude is pumped from landlocked Chad through a 650-mile pipeline across Cameroon to the Kome Kribi-1 floating storage and offloading facility, according to Chevron's website.
The grade has a gravity of 21.1 API, a sulfur content of 0.1% and an acidity of 5.18 mg KOH/g, making it a very heavy, acidic crude with a high calcium content of around 250 ppm.
