Nigeria has significantly increased its reliance on American crude oil, importing a total of 42.13 million barrels from the United States during the first ten months of 2025. This represents a staggering 167% year-on-year increase compared to the 15.79 million barrels imported during the same period in 2024.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlights a major shift in Nigeria’s energy sourcing, with monthly imports peaking in June 2025 at 9.16 million barrels (nearly nine times the volume recorded in June of the previous year.)
This surge is largely attributed to the operational ramp-up of the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery. Analysts from Kpler report that the facility has increasingly favored U.S. light sweet crude, such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Midland, due to its technical compatibility with complex refining units and more competitive pricing compared to some local grades.
In July 2025 alone, U.S. crude accounted for approximately 60% of the refinery’s feedstock, marking the first time American oil surpassed domestic Nigerian supply in the plant’s monthly intake.
While the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) confirmed that 67.6 million barrels were supplied to local refiners between January and August 2025, this volume met only about 55% of the total demand from domestic processors.
This persistent shortfall has forced refineries to look abroad, creating a historic trade reversal where the U.S. became a net exporter of crude to Nigeria for the first time in history during early 2025. Despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, Nigeria remains caught in a structural cycle of exporting its own crude for dollars while spending foreign exchange to import the specific grades needed to keep its new refining infrastructure running at capacity.
