ABUJA: THE United State’s crude imports from Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member countries dropped has by 200 tbpd or eight per cent and accounted for 32 per cent of total US crude imports.
OPEC, which made this disclosure in its monthly report for April, stated that US product imports from OPEC Member Countries dropped as well from a month earlier to stand at 219 tbpd, representing a share of 10 per cent of the total amount of products imported by the US and a decline of 45 per cent from the same month last year.
Besides, the U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA) stated that U.S. crude oil imports have declined since 2010, with nearly all of the decline occurring in Nigeria’s light sweet grades. “In particular, U.S. light crude imports fell by 70.5 per cent between 2010 and the year-to-date 2014 through August, to only 652,000 bblpd.
The EIA disclosed that imports of light crude from Africa have declined by 92.7 per cent, particularly from Nigeria and Algeria. Imports from Saudi Arabia have varied as that country continues to fulfill its role as swing producer and has adjusted its supplies of light crude to the U.S. according to changes in other producing areas such as Libya.
Nigeria has since explored other source crude oil export
According OPEC, as for the product supplier share, Canada and Russia maintained their positions as the first and second suppliers to the US with a share of 34 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively.
