As crude oil from the United States of America continues to penetrate more markets, Nigeria has lost some of its market share in Europe.
The US had in December 2015 removed the 40-year-old restrictions on its crude exports, following the rapid growth of its oil production from 2013 to 2015.
The Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday that US exported crude oil to 26 different countries in 2016, compared with 10 countries the previous year, among the countries were Nigeria’s traditional buyers, Netherlands, China, Italy, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Singapore, Peru, France and Spain.
US crude oil exports averaged 520,000 barrels per day in 2016, a 55,000 bpd or 12 per cent above the 2015 level, despite a year-over-year decline in domestic crude oil production, the EIA said.
It added that in 2015, 92 per cent of US crude export went to Canada and after the lifting of restrictions, Canada remained the top destination, but received only 58 per cent of the US crude exports in 2016.
The EIA said, “Aside from Canada, European destinations such as the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, and France rank high on the list of US crude oil export destinations.
“The second – largest regional destination is Asia, including China, Korea, Singapore, and Japan. In 2016, the US exported to eight different destinations in Central and South American, including Curacao, Colombia, and Peru.”
Nigeria’s European biggest buyer of Nigerian crude, The Netherlands, received 38,000 bpd of US crude oil in 2016, making it the second – largest destination after Canada; while its monthly import from Nigeria plunged to average 3.7 million barrels last year, from 9.1 million barrels in 2015, according to data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Italy bought 23, 000 bpd of the US crude oil; China imported 22, 000 bpd, while the UK and Colombia purchased 17, 000 bpd and 9,000bpd, respectively.
Nigerian crude oil export to Spain also plunged to an average of 4.7 million barrels in 2016, from 6.1 million barrels in 2015, while France averaged 3. 4 million barrels compared to 4.1 million barrels in 2015, the NNPC data showed.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s crude oil exports are set to increase to 1.66 million bpd in May, according to a loading programme compiled by Reuters on Tuesday. This is an up from April’s revised loadings and also puts Nigeria just slightly above Angola’s planned exports of 1.61 million bpd in May.
Nigeria had consistently been Africa’s largest oil exporter, but has had her loadings severally falling below those of Angola over the past year, as it dealt with attacks on oil installations and infrastructure in the oil rich Niger Delta by militants.
