Ike Amos
31 December 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja — Nigeria’s crude oil and gas export appreciated by 9.56 percent to N4.7 trillion in the third quarter of 2018, from N4.285 trillion recorded in the second quarter of 2018.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in its Third Quarter 2018 Foreign Trade Statistics, also stated that the third quarter crude oil and gas export represented an appreciation of 34.3 percent from N3.48 trillion recorded in the third quarter of 2017.
Giving a breakdown of oil exports in the third quarter of 2018, the NBS report stated that the country’s crude oil export stood at N4.147 trillion, while Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, export stood at N469.87 billion.
Other petroleum gases export stood at N27.85 billion; liquefied butane and liquefied propane export stood at N17.66 billion and N13.73 billion respectively; kerosene-type jet fuel export stood at N7.4 billion, while the country’s lubricating oil export stood at N6.84 billion.
In its month-on-month analysis of oil export, the report stated that in July 2018, N1.299 trillion and N159.025 billion was recorded as export for crude oil and other petroleum oil products respectively; for August and N1.35 trillion and N184.56 billion was recorded as export for crude oil and other petroleum oil products; while N1.5 trillion worth of crude oil and N200.07 billion worth of other petroleum oil products were exported in September 2018.
“Export in the third quarter was still oil dependent. Crude oil exports recorded N4.15 trillion in the third quarter and it remained the majority of total exports (85.4 percent). The non-oil products accounted for 3.4 percent while other oil products accounted for 11.20 percent of total exports in the quarter under review,” the report noted.
The report also noted that India was the highest importer of Nigeria’s crude oil, purchasing N764.88 billion worth of the commodity; followed by Nigeria’s crude oil export of N522.12 billion and N500.31 billion to Spain and France respectively.
Furthermore, the NBS disclosed that crude oil from Nigeria was exported to South Africa, Netherlands, Indonesia, Brazil and the United Kingdom, valued at N335.28 billion, N276.37 billion, N256.3 billion, N226.2 billion and 206.3 billion respectively.
Nigeria’s crude oil valued at N201.65 billion and N199.01 billion was also exported to the United States and Canada respectively, in the third quarter of 2018.
In general, the report noted that “Nigeria’s external trade totaled N9.026 trillion during the third quarter of 2018. Compared to the value of N6.903 trillion recorded against the second quarter, a rise of N2.122 trillion or 30.7 percent was indicated.
“The total export component of this trade was N4.854 trillion, representing an increase of 7.8 percent over the second quarter of 2018 and 35.7 percent over the third quarter of 2017.”