The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, has declared that Nigeria has forever lost the United States as a significant crude export market.
Up until the early 2000s, the US was Nigeria’s top crude importer, buying around 700,000 b/d of the commodity from Africa’s biggest producer, and climbed as high as 1.31 million b/d in February 2006, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
This volume has, however, been dropping since then, reaching zero import level by June 2015 following a surge in production of shale oil.
“That’s gone,” Kachikwu said at CERAWeek Energy Conference in Houston, USA.
CERAWeek conference continues outreach between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and shale producers.
The minister observed that the Light sweet Nigerian crude is very similar to the light oil produced in US shale, adding that as US shale production has grown, the appetite for Nigerian crude in the US has dropped dramatically.
Nigerian crude is now favorites for the Asian markets led by India.
Nigeria’s oil output averaged 2.07 million in February this year, 20,000 b/d up from January, according to federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources estimates.
Meanwhile, Kachikwu has said that oil producers that operate in U.S. shale fields and OPEC member nations should do more to help stabilize crude prices.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plans a “company-based workshop” with companies that operate in both areas, Kachikwu said on the sidelines of the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.
Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have large U.S. shale operations and also operate in Nigeria.
“Some of the same companies that are working in shale are the same companies working in OPEC,” Kachikwu said. “We need to begin to look at companies that are very active in these areas and begin to get them to take some responsibilities in terms of stability of oil prices.”
