Chidozie Nwali
According to recent statement on Tuesday, from the United state of America (USA) Energy Information Administration (EIA); Production activities from the dangote refinery has led to significant hunger for crude oil in Nigeria – Africa largest crude oil exporter.
The US exported more crude oil to Nigeria more than it received from Nigeria for the first time in February and March 2025.
EIA said that: “U.S. gross exports of crude oil to Nigeria reached 111,000 barrels per day (b/d) in February 2025 and 169,000 b/d in March. Over the same period, U.S. gross crude oil imports from Nigeria fell, from 133,000 b/d in January to 54,000 b/d in February and 72,000 b/d in March.”
However, during this period, refinery maintenance on the U.S. East Coast drove down U.S. demand for crude oil imports, including imports from Nigeria, and the relatively new Dangote refinery in Nigeria drove up Nigeria’s demand for inputs, including crude oil it imported from the U.S. marking the first time that the U.S was a net crude oil exporter to Nigeria.
Dangote Refinery
In January 2024, the Dangote refinery located in lekki free trade zone, Lagos State, Nigeria; began processing crude oil, and in the following month Nigeria imported crude oil from the United States. Nigeria is more commonly considered a crude oil source to the U.S.
The Dangote refinery is scheduled to reach full crude oil distillation capacity of 650,000 barrels perday (p/d) this year; trade press reports indicate it is currently running at about 550,000 b/d.
However, the refinery will likely continue processing imports of crude oil if the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) does not increase crude oil deliveries beyond the 300,000 b/d it currently delivers.
Revenue generated from crude oil sales to the Dangote refinery are denominated in Naira, Nigeria’s domestic currency. Because the Naira has weakened relative to the U.S. dollar. the NNPC has an economic incentive to sell its crude oil on international markets. Experts argues that the NNPC’s ability to increase deliveries may be limited because crude oil production by the NNPC and its partners has generally declined, falling from a peak of 2.4 million b/ d in 2005 to 1.6 million b/d in 2025.
