OIL TRADE BETWEEN NIGERIA AND THE UNITED STATES STOPPED Nigeria shifts its oil exports to Asian countries - China, Japan, India, South Korea. Does this have to do with the US support to Boko Haram in destabilizing Nigeria for the Western control of the Golf of Guineas oil? Nigeria: As U.S. Shuts Its Door On Nigerias Oil Exports This Day, 03/10/2014 ANALYSIS By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku Nigeria has become the first country to completely stop selling oil to the United States of America, the worlds largest oil producer and consumer, due to the impact of the shale revolution - an astounding reversal - as the country was only four years ago one of the top five oil suppliers to America. According to the US Department of Energy, Nigeria did not export a single barrel of crude to US-based refiners in July for the first time since records started in 1973. At its peak in February 2006, the US imported 1.3 million barrels per day (mb/d) from Nigeria - equal to roughly one super tanker the size of the Exxon Valdez every day. By 2012, Nigeria was just selling 0.5m b/d, but was still one of the top five suppliers to the US, alongside Saudi Arabia, Canada, Mexico and Venezuela. Earlier this year, sales dropped to a trickle of about 100,000 b/d. And in July, they completely stopped. The dramatic collapse in Nigerian crude oil exports to American refiners corroborates a warning a year ago by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, that shale was one of the most serious threats for African [oil] producers. Nigeria has offset the impact of the drop in US sales lifting exports towards Asia, with India supplanting the US as Nigerias largest importer of her crude oil. According to Platts, a specialised information service for the oil industry, Nigerian oil sales to Asias four largest oil importers - China, Japan, India and South Korea - have risen more than 40 per cent so far this year over the 2013 level. Oil analysts believe that Africa-US oil trade could completely stop in the next two to three years as other leading exporters, including Angola, Libya and Algeria, suffer the same fate as Nigeria. If that materialises, Africa will have to find new customers for its oil, going head-to-head with Middle East producers in the key Asian market. Even more worrisome, said an analyst, is the fact that Nigeria would be mistaken by relying on Asian buyers, as the shale revolution has made almost every country in the world a potential oil producer. Added to this are several other African countries such as Ghana, Cote dIvoire, South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia and Kenya, among many others, that have made commercial oil discoveries or are in the process of doing so. allafrica/stories/201410030906.html
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 23:40:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015