By Adedapo Adesanya
The volume of crude oil export from Nigeria to the United States of America rose by 25.3 per cent or 1.4 million barrels in the second quarter of this year.
This was contained in the latest data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), which showed that the largest crude producing country in Africa exported a total of 6.93 million barrels of crude oil in the quarter, up from 5.53 million barrels in the first three months of the year.
The US had previously lowered its oil imports from Nigeria due to a boost in shale oil production in the country, a development that made it the largest producer in the world but increased its imports due to the negative impact of the coronavirus on exploration and production.
However, the volume of Nigerian crude oil bought by the country dropped by 11.8 per cent in the third quarter of this year to 6.11 million barrels compared to the volume bought in Q2.
In 2014, when global oil prices started to fall from a peak of $115 per barrel, Nigeria’s crude export to the US dropped to 21.24 million barrels from 148.48 million barrels in 2012 and 87.40 million barrels in 2013.
As far back as 2010, the US bought as much as 358.92 million barrels from Nigeria. The country, however, reduced its imports to 280.08 million barrels in 2011.
Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed that America imported N111.16 billion worth of Nigerian crude in Q3 while Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania imported N1.03 trillion, N910.58 billion, N343.46 billion, and N29.82 billion worth of the Nigerian oil, respectively, in the period under review.
The recent weeks has seen an increase in oil prices as vaccination rollouts have helped oil prices with Brent crude, which Nigeria prices its crudes, trading at $51.73 per barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is up at $48.69 per barrel.
Dipo Olowookere