The latest data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)’s Crude Oil Export Destination states that the United States of America’s crude oil import from Nigeria has increased from the 8.5 million barrels it recorded in January to 12.1 million barrels in February.
According to the data, the U.S imported an average of 57,000 bpd of crude oil from Nigeria in 2015, a more than 90 per cent drop from the average volume imported in 2010.
Based on this development, Nigeria fell from being the 5th-largest foreign oil supplier to the U.S in 2011 to the 11th in 2015.As U.S. imports of Nigerian oil decreased over the past few years, European and Asian imports from Nigeria increased.
However, European imports of Nigerian crude and condensate increased year-over-year by more than 40 per cent in 2011 and by 30 per cent in 2012, making Europe the largest regional importer of Nigerian oil.
Nigeria’s number one buyer remains India, they imported crude worth 16.2 million barrels in January and 12.6 million barrels in February.
According to a report from the Energy Information Administration, (EIA) It listed the five sources of U.S. crude oil imports for February to included Canada with 3,558 thousand barrels per day; Saudi Arabia, 1,008 thousand barrels per day; Venezuela, 726 thousand barrels per day; Mexico, 489 thousand barrels per day; and Colombia, 472 thousand barrels per day.
The remaining top ten sources, in order, it disclosed were Kuwait, 289 thousand barrels per day; Nigeria, 257 thousand barrels per day; Ecuador, 246 thousand barrels per day; Iraq, 245 thousand barrels per day and Brazil, 144 thousand barrels per day respectively.
With the rate at which militants are bombing crude and gas pipelines, leading to a drop in crude production in the country, it is imminent that Nigeria will not meet buyer’s demands for now despite the increase of global price of the crude to $50 per barrel.
