OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The volume of crude oil export from Nigeria to the United States of America was up by 1.4 million barrels in the second quarter, Q2, of this year, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration, EIA.
Nigeria 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 that country, 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 11.83 percent 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.