Angola Overtakes Nigeria As Top African Oil Exporter To The U.S.

Written by Kevin Mwanza

Sep 09, 2014

While deliveries of crude oil from Angola to the United States (US) have averaged around 116,000 barrels per day (bpd) since the start of 2014, imports from Nigeria have seen a steeper fall with just 75,000 bpd, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of US Energy Department.

US annual imports of Angolan crudes are on track to surpass imports of Nigerian crudes for the first time since the EIA started tracking such data in 1973, Platts analysis of EIA data showed.

The most recent yearly data shows Angolan exports to the US down 59 percent from a peak of 534,378 bpd in 2006, while Nigerian exports fell 75 percent over the same period.

“Right now, the US is no more importing from us because of shale oil that they have. Now we are looking to India and to others where our crude may not have a premium market,” Mike Olorunfemi, founder of Mak Mera Group and former NNPC executive told BusinessDay.

For six consecutive weeks between June 27 and August 8, the US imported no crude from Nigeria, the longest period that the US has gone without imports from Africa’s top oil producer.

As the tight oil boom continues to reduce US imports of West African crude, heavier Angolan grades have proved more resilient than their lighter regional counterparts, according to recent EIA data. Shale drilling has boosted US oil output to the highest level since 1986.

Sources said the main reasons for the increase in Angolan imports and decrease in Nigerian shipments are the comparative ease of blending Angolan grades with shale crude, as well as demand for heavy refined products and feedstocks, which favours Angolan crudes.

Shale crude is very light and sweet and similar in quality to Nigerian crude. As a result, the US no longer needs as much Nigerian oil as it once did.

However, Angolan crude has proven far more appealing to US refiners, as it is mostly of a heavy, sweet variety. Its low specific gravity makes it denser, and it also has low sulfur content. Heavy sweet crudes are used to blend with the light sweet shale crude and this has encouraged a preference for Angolan crudes by US refiners.