Nigeria’s Crude Oil Export to India Plunges 54%

• Nigeria’s Crude Oil Export to India Plunges 54%

The Nigerian oil export to India dropped by 54 percent in January from a year ago.

According to a Reuters report, the militant attack on the Trans Forcados Pipeline forced key Indian clients, mostly state-run companies to turn to Angola for supplies, bolstering Angola exports by almost 70 percent.

While India still remained the single largest buyer of Nigerian crude oil, production is well below NNPC’s 2.2 million barrels per day target and presently stood at 1.6mbpd, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu said on Tuesday.

The Minister, further stated that after the Trans Forcados Pipeline was shut last year, production dropped by as much as one million barrels per day, giving the ministry little to no means to earn forex needed to service the economy.

Since the pipeline was shut, Nigeria has lost about $100 billion in revenue to attacks by the militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta, “a cushion could see economic growth and gradual recovery,” said Samed Olukoya, a research analyst at Investors King Ltd.

Mr. Austin Avuru, the Chief Executive Officer, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, said the Trans Forcado Pipeline could be reopen towards the end of the second quarter.

However, India’s imports from Iran rose slightly in January compared to previous months as Indian refiners received full volumes from Iraq and Saudi Arabia.