Nigeria, others face pressure as US closer to crude oil exports

With efforts towards lifting the almost 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports in the United States (US) gaining traction, Nigeria and other oil exporting West African countries stand to lose a share of the global crude oil export market when US crude exports come online.

Late last month, the US Commerce Department granted licences for the export of ultra-light crude oil or condensates to two Texas-based companies, Pioneer Natural Resources and Enterprise Products Partners, from August this year, in what is the first step towards easing the ban on exporting unrefined oil that was enacted after the 1973 Arab oil embargo to curb rising fuel prices.

The decline in US imports of Nigerian crude has

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Nigeria has granted licenses to more than 30 companies to import around 26 million barrels of gasoline, or around 3.1 million tonnes, in the first quarter of this year, down slightly from the previous quarter, industry sources said.

Nigeria gave the largest allocation of 1.3 million tonnes to state oil company NNPC, according to a list of importers compiled from trade sources by Reuters.

Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer but relies on gasoline imports because its refineries work at a fraction of capacity due to poor maintenance and old age.

Africa’s most populous nation and the continent’s second largest economy is an