India replaces U.S. as top importer of Nigeria’s oil

India has replaced the United States as the largest importer of Nigeria’s crude, with China and Malaysia following closely.

The U.S. has drastically reduced its demand, which now stands at about 250,000 barrels per day. India buys some 30 per cent of Nigeria’s daily crude production of about 2.5million barrels.

Speaking in Moscow, Russia at the on-going 21st World Petroleum Congress, Coordinator, Corporate Planning and Strategy, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Tim Okon, told reporters that the Asian countries had since replaced the US.

NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Ohi Alegbe stated this in a statement yesterday.

According to the statement,   Dr. Okon, who also doubles as the Director of Transformation of the NNPC, explained that Nigeria would not ignore any market in her quest to remain competitive in the global oil and gas industry.

  “Asia is important and in that respect we have regards for all markets; the important thing is to make sure that you are selling the products that you have and you do not ignore any market,” he said.

Nigeria is participating in the congress to access global business opportunities in the petroleum industry, especially in the gas sub-sector, to enable it to position itself as a major competitor in the hydrocarbon market.

He said as a natural resource rich country, Nigeria is working hard to do a better job in developing such resources and translating them to the wider economy.

While stressing that the country does not have preference markets for its products, he however admitted that the Petroleum Industry Bill, which is before the National Assembly, needs to be passed into law to enable the country maximize its potentials in the oil and gas industry.

“I cannot talk about future incentives if the principal law that would give birth to it has not been passed but I want to say that the general intention is that Nigeria must compete in the market place and our fiscal systems are designed to be competitive that would lead to good outcomes for the country,” observed Okon.

“It is always helpful to do things in a timely manner and that is an important point to stress. Many of the countries that were trying to get new legislations passed like Ghana, Brazil, Mozambique and even Uganda have passed their legislation. So, I think timeliness is of the essence,” the Coordinator noted.

Roundly regarded as the global oil and gas industry equivalent of the Olympics, the World Petroleum Congress is the biggest congregation of oil and gas experts on the global stage. The Congress essentiality consists of an exhibition and conference.

Nigeria’s participation at the 2014 WPC is anchored on the theme, “Harnessing Nigeria’s gas resources for sustainable national and regional development’.