Nigeria generated $31.54 billion from crude oil exports in 2025, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The data was obtained from the Balance of Payments (BOP) report for 2025, which highlights the continued dominance of oil in external earnings despite emerging shifts in the country’s export structure.
The figure represents a 14.41% decline from $36.85 billion recorded in 2024, reflecting weaker oil receipts even as broader external trade indicators showed mixed performance.
What the report shows
The drop in crude oil earnings occurred alongside a current account surplus of $14.04 billion in 2025, lower than $19.03 billion in 2024.
The Central Bank of Nigeria attributed the moderation partly to reduced crude oil export proceeds.
The report stated that “provisional BOP statistics for 2025 show a current account surplus of $14.04bn, which was lower than the $19.03bn in the previous year,” linking the decline to weaker crude oil earnings.
Further analysis by Nairametrics shows that the decline in earnings occurred despite higher crude oil production in 2025.
Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) showed that total crude oil production rose to 530.41 million barrels in 2025, compared to 408.68 million barrels in 2024.
However, overall oil output remained below expectations. Nigeria produced a combined 599.64 million barrels of crude oil and condensate during the year, falling short of its budget target of 766.5 million barrels. This translates to a shortfall of 166.86 million barrels.
Further analysis showed that Nigeria fell below its OPEC quota in nine months of the year, only meeting or slightly exceeding targets in January, June, and July. This inconsistency, combined with operational disruptions and outages, continued to limit the country’s ability to fully optimise oil revenues.
Crude oil prices provided some support during the year, but not enough to offset the impact of production inefficiencies and external headwinds.
Gas, refining gains reshape export mix
While crude oil earnings declined, Nigeria’s overall oil and gas export segment recorded modest growth, pointing to a gradual shift in the country’s hydrocarbon export dynamics.
Total exports of crude oil, gas, and refined petroleum products rose from $45.51 billion in 2024 to $48.17 billion in 2025.
- The increase was driven largely by stronger gas exports and the emergence of refined petroleum exports.
- Gas export earnings rose by 21.36% to $10.51 billion, while refined petroleum exports stood at $6.13 billion, reflecting growing domestic refining capacity.
- The report linked the emergence of refined exports to operations of the Dangote Refinery, which is beginning to reshape Nigeria’s trade structure by introducing value-added petroleum products into the export mix.
However, crude oil remained the dominant export component, meaning its decline continued to weigh significantly on total external earnings.
External pressures persist despite trade resilience
Nigeria’s external sector faced increasing pressure from rising imports and higher outflows across key accounts, limiting the gains from export growth.
Non-oil imports rose by 13.60% to $29.24 billion in 2025, reflecting stronger demand for foreign goods. At the same time, deficits in the services and primary income accounts widened.
- Net outflows in the services account increased to $14.58 billion from $13.36 billion, driven by higher payments for transport, travel, and insurance.
- Meanwhile, net outflows in the primary income account surged by 60.88% to $9.09 billion, largely due to increased dividend and interest payments to foreign investors.
- Despite these pressures, the goods account remained resilient, posting a surplus of $14.51 billion in 2025 compared to $13.17 billion in 2024, supported by higher gas exports and the introduction of refined petroleum exports.
A key development was the decline in fuel imports, which dropped from $14.06 billion in 2024 to $10.00 billion in 2025, reflecting improved domestic refining capacity.
However, crude oil imports of $3.74 billion were recorded during the year, largely linked to feedstock purchases by the Dangote Refinery.
Overall, Nigeria’s balance of payments surplus declined to $4.23 billion in 2025 from $6.83 billion in 2024, even as external reserves rose to $45.75 billion, indicating improved reserve buffers despite underlying structural challenges in the external sector.
