Obama’s shale subsidy means more stress for Nigeria

If predictions by analysts that the United States of America (USA) would subsidise her shale oil producers to prevent them from bulking under current falling oil prices materialise, Nigeria may be in for a longer crisis, economic and policy watchers said last night.

The Obama government is believed to be working hard to achieve energy self-sufficiency, a national security issue for the US.

The analysts also say that the Federal Government’s current austerity measures and monetary tightening may

Nigeria sees lower US oil imports than Angola for the first time

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

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