Nigeria’s indigenous drilling segment imports its water-based mud chemicals — polyanionic cellulose (PAC-LV, PAC-R), xanthan gum, drilling starch, PHPA — because they are not manufactured in Nigeria at drilling grade and commercial scale. That supply commonly arrives re-traded through third countries, each layer adding its own margin on China-origin product. Ironstone quotes the same class of drilling-grade product shipped direct from the factory and verified batch by batch against the specification you order, CFR Onne (cost and freight — sea freight included in the price), with the conformity documents prepared to Nigerian requirements and staged USD payment terms.
Containerized oilfield cargo for the eastern producing areas normally enters through Onne, the deep-water port complex near Port Harcourt that serves as Nigeria’s main oil and gas logistics hub, with Lagos ports as the alternative for cargo destined west. We quote CFR Onne — cost and freight, sea freight included in the price, insurance deliberately not included: Nigerian insurance law requires import cargo to be insured with a Nigerian-registered insurer. You place the marine cover locally, and your import file stays on a cost-and-freight basis. Orders can mix products in one container — PAC, xanthan gum and starch in the same box, under one document set. Sailings run from main Chinese ports; port-to-port transit to Onne typically runs five to seven weeks depending on routing, and the exact transit time is stated on each quotation. Your clearing agent handles import clearance; the full document set they need is prepared before the vessel arrives.
Generally no. SONCAP covers Nigeria’s regulated-product list — toys, electrical goods, automotive parts, building materials and similar consumer categories. Industrial process chemicals such as drilling-fluid additives are outside it: SON’s own guidance treats chemicals used in manufacturing processes as non-regulated.Confirm the current status of your specific HS lines with your clearing agent, since SON updates the list. The regulatory gate that does matter sits on the importer’s side: NAFDAC’s permit to import industrial chemicals, which a Nigerian buyer holds before the order is placed. Our document set is prepared to meet the requirements of that NAFDAC permit file: the safety data sheet comes from the actual manufacturer in the full 16-section GHS format (the globally harmonized safety-data standard), and every product is named by its specific chemical identity, because generic descriptions like “viscosifier” are not accepted.
Nigerian import clearance is document-led and most of the work happens before the vessel arrives: your bank opens the import Form M against our pro-forma invoice, and customs issues its Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) from the final shipping documents. From our side you receive the complete set: commercial invoice, packing list, batch certificate of analysis against the specification you order— using API Spec 13A test methods where your grade is quoted to 13A — the manufacturer’s safety data sheet, and a certificate of origin prepared in the combined value-and-origin (CCVO) format Nigerian banks commonly require. Tell us who is clearing your cargo and we align the documents with them directly.
Two answers. First, we do not offer barite or bentonite into Nigeria— those lines are the centre of Nigeria’s local-content programme for drilling minerals, and our catalogue respects that. Second, for the specialty chemicals we do supply — PAC, xanthan gum, drilling starch, PHPA and similar additives — Nigeria does not manufacture these at drilling grade and commercial scale, and imported raw material feeding a Nigerian blending or service operation supports local value-add rather than replacing it. If your company holds its own local-content registration, our role is upstream of it: we are the material source, you remain the Nigerian supplier of record.
We invoice in USD. The structure is 30% by T/T with the order and 70% by T/T against the shipping documents. We do not use letters of credit. The balance is due only after the vessel has sailed and the documents show what shipped: the bill of lading, the packing list, and the certificate of analysis for your lot against the specification you ordered. Every quotation also states a cargo-ready date: if we cannot ship conforming material within 30 days of it, you may cancel and we refund the deposit in full. Before a first order, product samples are available — the sample is free, you pay the courier shipping — and you may appoint an independent inspector before loading, reporting to you directly, with the fee for your account.
The buyer we are built for in Nigeria is the supply layer: mud-service companies running their own additive programmes, chemical blenders buying imported raw material, and importer-traders stocking drilling consumables for the land and swamp segment. If your current supply arrives through a third-country intermediary, the comparison is simple: send the specification you buy against, and we quote the same class of verified product, line by line, against what you pay today.
Ironstone is a Canadian-registered trading company supplying China-origin drilling consumables with verification completed before shipment — the batch certificate of analysis checked against your specification, the manufacturer’s safety data sheet in the file, and third-party inspection where you instruct it. We are not a stocking distributor in Nigeria and we do not run mud programmes — your local supplier holds the emergency stock and the field service. Our role is the planned, containerized volume underneath it, and we do not sell barite or bentonite into Nigeria.