While
deliveries of crude oil from Angola to the United States (US) have averaged
around 116,000 barrels per day (bpd) since the start of 2014, imports from
Nigeria have seen a steeper fall with just 75,000 bpd, according to data from
the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of US Energy
Department.
US
annual imports of Angolan crudes are on track to surpass imports of Nigerian
crudes for the first time since the EIA started tracking such data in 1973,
Platts analysis of EIA data showed.
The
most recent yearly data shows Angolan exports to the US down 59 percent from a
peak of 534,378 bpd in 2006, while Nigerian exports fell 75 percent over the
same period.
“Right
now, the US is no more importing from us because
of shale oil that they have.
Now we are looking to India and to others where our crude may not have a
premium market,” Mike Olorunfemi, founder of Mak Mera Group and former NNPC
executive told BusinessDay.
For
six consecutive weeks between June 27 and August 8, the US imported no crude
from Nigeria, the longest period that the US has gone without imports from
Africa’s top oil producer.
As
the tight oil boom continues to reduce US imports of West African crude,
heavier Angolan grades have proved more resilient than their lighter regional
counterparts, according to recent EIA data. Shale drilling has boosted US oil
output to the highest level since 1986.
Sources
said the main reasons for the increase in Angolan imports and decrease in
Nigerian shipments are the comparative ease of blending Angolan grades with
shale crude, as well as demand for heavy refined products and feedstocks, which
favors Angolan crudes.
Shale
crude is very light and sweet and similar in quality to Nigerian crude. As a
result, the US no longer needs as much Nigerian oil as it once did.
However,
Angolan crude has proven far more appealing to US refiners, as it is mostly of
a heavy, sweet variety. Its low specific gravity makes it denser, and it also
has low sulfur content. Heavy sweet crudes are used to blend with the light
sweet shale crude and this has encouraged a preference for Angolan crudes by US
refiners.
As
recently as 2010, Nigerian flows to the US averaged over 1 million bpd.
In
2013, US imports of Nigerian and Angolan crude oil comprised 5.04 percent of
total US imports, averaging 497,000 bpd. Of this volume, Nigeria’s contribution
averaged 281,000 bpd while Angola’s averaged 216,000 bpd.
Total
imports of crude oil to the US from Nigeria, Mexico, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia
have seen a significant decline in recent times, mostly affecting Nigeria.
Shipments
from Nigeria to the world’s second largest importer of crude oil are below 93
percent, 59 percent below their peak from Mexico, 56 percent from
BusinessDay
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