India’s import of Nigeria’s oil hits record high

Import of Nigerian crude oil by India hit a record high of 20.373 million barrels in April, helping to reverse the drop in Asia’s imports of the nation’s crude, a new report by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has shown.

Import from India, which recently replaced the United States as the single largest importer of crude oil from Nigeria, has declined in recent months, falling to 7.765 million barrels in March.

The Asian country had in January bought 11.531 million barrels of Nigerian crude, down from 16.349 million barrels in August, 13.7 million barrels in October and 12.4 million barrels in November last year.

Its import of Nigerian crude had in December 2014 tumbled to 5.2 million barrels, prompting the share of the Asian region in Nigeria’s crude oil export to drop to 20 per cent, from 30 per cent in October and 27 per cent in November.

The region’s share further dropped to 24 per cent in January, 23 per cent in February and 21 per cent in March. It, however, rose to 36 per cent in April.

Major buyers of Nigerian crude in Asia include India, Singapore, Indonesia, China and Singapore.

Indonesia and China did not buy a single barrel of the country’s oil in April, the NNPC data showed.

Buoyed by the increase in India’s import, Nigeria’s total oil exports rose to 63.988 million barrels in April, up from 62.677 million barrels in March, according to the NNPC.

The country’s oil exports in February stood at 64.902 million barrels, down from 66.761 million barrels recorded in January.

In March and April, the US and Canada did not import a single barrel of Nigerian crude.

The Asian region, which is now increasingly a major target market for many oil exporters amid sustained oil price decline, is a key market for Nigeria.

Europe’s share of Nigerian export also increased to 50 per cent in April, down from 43 per cent in the previous month.

At the Lagos Oil Forum on Thursday organised by Platts, a US-based publication that provides information on energy and metals data, its Senior Editor, Europe and Africa Oil, Mr. EklavyaGupte, said falling production in the North Sea and Libya had boosted Europe’s import of Nigerian crude.

He, however, stated that Nigeria should focus more on the Asian markets as refining in Europe had been falling in recent times.

He said, “One of the biggest challenges for Nigeria is to find new buyers and keep its regular buyers. Europe is the biggest regional market for Nigeria. The refineries in Europe are not doing well. Refining is falling, and to have a region like that as your biggest market is not a very positive thing.

“Asia is where the demand is now. The biggest challenge will be to attract a lot of demand from Asia,” Gupte added.

The increase in freight rate is another challenge facing Nigerian crude, he said.