Nigeria’s crude export to the United States increased from 358,000 barrels per day to 364,000 bpd after the Dangote Petroleum Refinery reduced its daily fuel production between April and May 2025.
Quoting the Energy Information Administration, Reuters reported that US crude and fuel inventories all fell last week, while crude imports from Nigeria hit their highest level in nearly six years.
“Crude imports from Nigeria rose by 358,000 bpd to 364,000 bpd, marking the highest import figure from the African nation since October 2019. The jump in imports comes as Nigeria’s 650,000 bpd Dangote refinery has faced an unplanned outage from April 7 to May 11,” the report said.
Crude inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels to 440.4 million barrels in the week ending May 23, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 118,000-barrel rise.
It was learnt that US crude exports rose during the week by 794,000 bpd to 4.3 million bpd, helping push inventories lower.
Oil prices were said to have risen slightly after the EIA reported a surprise draw in stockpiles, but were still trading in negative territory.
Meanwhile, the 650,000-bpd Dangote oil refinery in Nigeria is expected to operate its gasoline-making unit at reduced rates through October after a string of issues in recent months.
The refinery, which opened last year, is currently running its 204,000 bpd gasoline-producing residual fluid catalytic cracking unit below its capacity.