Nigeria has forever lost the United States as a significant crude export market, Nigeria's oil minister said Monday.
"That's gone," Emmanuel Kachikwu said during a news conference at CERAWeek by IHS Markit.
Light sweet Nigerian crude is very similar to the light oil produced in US shale. As US shale production has grown, the appetite for Nigerian crude in the US has dropped dramatically.
US imports of Nigerian crude climbed as high as 1.31 million b/d in February 2006, according to the US Energy Information Administration. But as the US shale revolution began and output of light tight oil rose, Nigerian imports fell. In July and August of 2014 and June of 2015 the US did not import any Nigerian oil.
US imports of Nigerian crude averaged 296,000 b/d in December, according to EIA data, the highest monthly import level since 2011. But Kachikwu called any significant increase in Nigerian shipments to the US "very unlikely."
Nigeria's oil output averaged 1.93 million b/d in January, up 30,000 b/d from December, according to the latest S&P Global Platts survey.
