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Nigeria’s oil exports in a further decline, 30 cargoes unsold

By YUSUF MOHAMMED
A new report has revealed that with India signing an agreement to import 0.6 million barrels of oil from the United States, Nigeria’s crude exports could further be threatened if new markets are not explored.
The research noted that India was Nigeria’s top crude oil buyer in five of the last six years.
Nigerian and Angola crude oil cargoes were said to be clearing slowly on Thursday in lackluster demand with programmes due to emerge next week.
About 30 Nigeria cargoes from April loading programme were still available, according to Reuters.
Analysts at CSL stockbrokers Limited noted that a recent report by the Energy Information Administration showed a gradual decline in crude oil imports by the United States to an average of 7.7 million barrels per day in 2018 from a high of 10.1 million bdp in 2005.
They said the development was occasioned by growing shale oil production with the US achieving the status of the top oil producer in 2018.
“This development has had severe impact on US crude import from Nigeria.” The analysts added.
According to the EIA report, between 2014 and 2015, before and shortly after the decline in oil prices, there were months that US imported no crude oil from Nigeria.
The CSL analysts said high production cost of shale oil coupled with the slump in global oil prices caused capital expenditure into shale production to decline substantially, forcing the US to ramp up imports from countries like Nigeria.