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Several developments have called into question the federal government’s intention to restart oil production at the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) Dangote refinery in Lagos in recent weeks. The developments relate to the supply of crude to the refinery and the sale of refined products due to the wide exchange rate gap between the naira and the dollar.
Several regulatory bodies have issued statements questioning the refinery’s full capacity, but according to Dangote and policy experts, this sends the wrong signal to the international market and crude oil traders, especially on the premise that Nigeria does not have a functioning refinery despite having crude oil as a minimally important resource.
The inefficiency of these refineries means that Nigeria drills for crude oil and exports it to countries with functioning refineries, which then sell it back to the country in the form of various refined petrochemicals. This whole process prevents the country from earning enough revenue from the availability of crude oil as most of its revenue is used to subsidize the cost of fuel when it is imported.
A separate development is the controversial acquisition of a blending plant in Malta by Onado Plac, one of Nigeria’s independent oil and gas companies. This came after Dangote concluded that some Nigerians, including officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), owned and operated the oil blending plant in Malta.
However, Ripples Metics collected data from the National Bureau of Statistics to identify the countries of origin of Nigeria’s petroleum imports in 2023.
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What the data says
Nigeria’s total annual trade stood at N71.88 trillion at the end of 2023. This was an import of N35.92 trillion and export of N35.96 trillion, representing a trade surplus of N400 billion, according to the National Bureau of Statistics report on Foreign Trade in Merchandise.
Data shows that 33.94 percent of the total imports were mineral products (including refined petroleum products) which amounted to N12.19 trillion. With crude oil taking the major share of Nigeria’s imports for the year, data reveals that these refined products came from 20 countries.
The top five countries according to Ripples Metrc’s findings are Belgium ($5.38 billion), India ($2.52 billion), the Netherlands ($2.43 billion), Malta ($2.08 billion) and Russia ($1.1 billion).
Other countries include Saudi Arabia with $1.09 billion, South Korea with $1.03 billion, Norway with $758.3 million, Oman with $433.58 million, Turkey with $301.55 million, France with $288.06 million, the United States with $280.14 million, Latvia with $212.23 million, Malaysia with $193.13 million, and Spain with $177.21 million.
The countries with the least crude oil imports are Togo ($109.3 million), Tunisia ($104.35 million), Italy ($75.65 million), Brazil ($72.73 million), and Cyprus ($69.5 million).
Other African countries on the list include Ivory Coast with $24.84 million, Egypt with $4.76 million, South Africa with $414,000, Ghana with $128,000, Niger with $122,000, and Namibia with $6,000.
Further examination shows that between April 2023 and March 2024, under President Bola Tinubu’s first year in office, Nigeria generated a total trade value of N85.69 trillion, with imports worth N37.03 trillion and exports worth M48.65 trillion.
By: James Odunayo
RipplesMetrics post… Nigeria’s Fuel Imports: Where Will They Come From in 2023? appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from Ripples Nigeria.
