Nigerian crude oil exports are set to hold above the 2 million barrels per day (bpd) mark and above the average for the first six months of 2012 as new production has boosted output in Africa’s top oil exporter.

Nigeria plans to export around 2.03 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in July, oil traders said on Wednesday citing provisional loading programmes.

The volume was little changed from June when the West African country planned to export 2.04 million bpd and above the year-to-date average of 1.98 million bpd.

OPEC member Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer and in recent months it has extended its lead versus Angola after exports for the Usan grade began in April.

But output for this grade has been irregular with two cargoes due to load in June versus a planned four for July.

“It’s just teething issues,” said a West African crude oil trader.

Exports of the biggest grade Qua Iboe are set to fall slightly in July to 337,000 bpd versus a planned 380,000 bpd in June, the provisional programme showed.

Traders did not have the details of the Oyo grade loading programme, although this stream does not load a cargo every month.

In total, the provisional loading programme showed that nearly 63 million barrels of crude oil would be loaded on 69 tankers.

The export volumes did not include condensate exports such as Akpo and Oso Condensate.

Around half of Nigeria’s oil is sold via pre-agreed annual term contracts sold by the state oil firm Nigerian National Petroleum Corp to local and international trading houses and refiners.

The rest is allocated to oil majors with equity volumes like Royal Dutch Shell.

NNPC has extended the deadline for companies to submit applications for 2012-2013 crude oil term contracts, without giving a reason for the delay.