India Increases Demand for Nigeria’s Crude, Remains Largest Buyer

The value of Nigeria’s crude oil export to India jumped by N31 billion, from N352bn in the second quarter (Q2) to N383bn in the third quarter (Q3) of 2015.

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in its Foreign Trade Statistics for Q3, 2015 released recently, said India remains the largest buyer of Nigeria’s crude oil.

The value of Nigeria’s crude oil exports to the world’s third largest crude importer amounted to N381bn in Q1, but fell to N352bn in Q2 before climbing to N383bn in Q3, 2015.

The NBS quarterly report, which is largely from secondary data sources, showed, however, that the

Netherlands displaced Spain to become the second largest buyer of Nigeria’s crude.

In Q3, crude oil export to the Netherlands amounted to N228bn, while export to Spain declined from N260bn in Q2 to N160bn in Q3.

The NBS report also said Nigeria’s crude oil exports plunged by N372.8bn, or 18.8 per cent over the previous quarter, but contributed N1.6 trillion or 69.1 per cent to the value of domestic exports in 2015. Natural gas recorded N265.2bn of the total export value during the period under review.