The US has cut oil imports from Nigeria by 11.67 million barrels between January and May, 2020, down from 21.04 million barrels for the same period in 2019, according to data released by the US Energy Information Administration on Friday.
According to the data, the highest monthly oil import from Nigeria to the US stood at 2.12 million barrels compared to 11.78 million barrels in 2019.
The purchases fell by 63.03% to about 5.53 million barrels in the first quarter of 2020 against 15.07 million barrels in the first quarter of 2019.
The breakdown of US purchase of Nigerian oil for 2020 include; 1.92 million barrels in January, 1.92 million in February, 1.68 million in March, 1.70 million in April and 2.12 million in May.
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The United States has reduced its import of Nigerian crude significantly since it started heavy production of its shale oil which is similar to what the Nigerians produce.
US oil imports from Nigeria fell significantly from 148.48 million barrels in 2012 to 87.40 million barrels in 2013 due to an increase in the production of shale oil.
Asides from this, the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy significantly affected the demand for crude oil, especially from major producers like Nigeria and Angola.
The crash in global oil prices also led to Nigerian crude being stranded on the seas with no willing buyers and no storage capacity. The US did not purchase any oil from Nigeria in July and August of 2014 as well as June of 2015.
The report stated that the US is able to produce a large portion of the petroleum it consumes, using imports to help with domestic supply as well as the international market.
“Some of the crude oil that the US imports are refined by US refineries into petroleum products (such as gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, and jet fuel) that the US exports,” the report said.
19.25 million Barrels per day was produced by the US in 2019 while it consumed about 20.46 million barrels per day during the same period.