Nigeria imported about 61.7 million barrels of crude oil from the United States between January 2024 and January 2026, underscoring the country’s growing rel iance on foreign feedstock to support domestic refining despite being a major oil producer.
This is despite the fact that Nigeria exported over 300 million barrels of crude in the first 10 months of 2025 and 55.39 million barrels in January and February 2026.
Data obtained from the US Energy Information Administration showed that crude exports from the United States to Nigeria surged during the period, marking a sharp reversal from nearly a decade of negligible crude trade flows between both countries.
Before 2024, American crude shipments to Nigeria were virtually non-existent. The only notable supply recorded within the period was in March 2016, when exports averaged just 19,000 barrels per day, translating to about 0.589 million barrels for the entire year.
However, the trade pattern changed significantly in 2024, coinciding with the commencement of operations at the Dangote refinery, which industry observers said has emerged as the primary buyer of US crude to supplement domestic supply constraints.
The EIA reports its data in thousands of barrels per day, meaning the daily figures must be multiplied by the number of days in each month to derive the total monthly volume.
For 2024, data available for January to June indicated that Nigeria imported a total of 15.701 million barrels from the United States within six months. In January, imports averaged 125,000 barrels per day, translating to 3.87 million barrels. February recorded 110,000 barrels per day or 3.19 million barrels, while March fell to 51,000 barrels per day, amounting to 1.58 million barrels.
Imports rose again in April to 67,000 barrels per day, representing 2.01 million barrels, before dropping to 35,000 barrels per day in May, equivalent to 1.08 million barrels. June recorded the highest inflow for the year at 132,000 barrels per day, which translated to 3.96 million barrels.
The volume increased further in 2025, which accounted for the largest share of the two-year imports. Between February and December 2025, Nigeria imported 41.06 million barrels of US crude.
According to the EIA, the year started with 111,000 barrels per day in February and climbed steadily in the following months.
Imports peaked in June 2025 at 305,000 barrels per day, the highest monthly rate in the dataset, delivering about 9.15 million barrels within 30 days. Another strong inflow was recorded in August at 201,000 barrels per day, equivalent to 6.23 million barrels.
However, the supply slowed sharply towards the end of the year. Imports dropped to 12,000 barrels per day in November, translating to just 0.36 million barrels, before slightly rising to 23,000 barrels per day or 0.71 million barrels in December.
For 2026, data available for January showed that Nigeria imported 159,000 barrels per day, amounting to 4.93 million barrels.
A breakdown of the figures showed that the combined total for 2024, 2025 and January 2026 stood at 61.685 million barrels, which rounds up to 61.7 million barrels.
The development highlights a paradox in Nigeria’s oil sector, where the country exports large volumes of crude oil but still struggles to supply enough feedstock to domestic refineries.
For decades, Nigeria relied heavily on importing refined petroleum products such as petrol and diesel due to limited refining capacity. The commissioning of the Dangote refinery in 2024 shifted the pattern, with the country now importing crude oil for local processing instead of finished fuels.
Aliko Dangote once said the imports from the United States were largely driven by the need to bridge the gap between domestic crude supply and the refinery’s operational requirements.
The Dangote facility, one of the world’s largest single-train refineries, requires substantial daily feedstock to run at optimal capacity, needing over 19 million barrels monthly.
Sources told our correspondent that the Dangote refinery imports crude from Ghana and other African countries even as the country sells crude to other countries.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed that Nigeria exported an estimated 306.7 million barrels of crude oil between January and October 2025, despite concerns over feedstock shortages faced by domestic refineries.
The figures indicated that while the country produced about 443.5 million barrels during the 10-month period, averaging roughly 1.45 million barrels per day, a significant portion of the output was shipped overseas.
Cumulatively, exports between January and October represented about 69 per cent of total production, leaving roughly 137 million barrels for domestic use.
Similarly, Nigeria exported 55.39 million barrels of crude oil in the first two months of 2026 even as the Dangote refinery continues to struggle with inadequate domestic feedstock supply.
According to CBN data, the country shipped out 31.31 million barrels in January and 24.08 million barrels in February.
In January, crude production averaged 1.46 million barrels per day with exports at 1.01 mbpd. In February, production fell to 1.31 mbpd while exports averaged 0.86 mbpd. Total crude production for the two months stood at 81.94 million barrels, meaning that 26.55 million barrels were left behind for local refineries in the first two months of 2026.
On several occasions, the Dangote refinery complained of low crude supply despite the naira-for-crude arrangement, forcing it to source feedstock from the United States and other countries, including Ghana.
Also, the Crude Oil Refiners Association of Nigeria lamented that some modular refineries under its umbrella shut down intermittently due to inadequate crude supply.
(Punch)
