There is growing concern that Nigeria is losing the United States as its biggest oil customer amid surging output and refinery closures in North America.When I got the article, I vaguely remembered reading that a major oil company was selling its Nigerian assets, but a quick google search found it: COP. That article was published earlier this month and was a hint that things were changing.
According to shipping records, the recent U.S. purchases of Nigerian crude fell to a 5-year low in February, leading the country to slide to sixth position from her former fifth position among suppliers to the U.S, the world's largest oil consumer.
However, industry experts said that Nigeria was set to offset the trend as she is taking her cargoes to Asia, where refiners are increasing imports from Nigeria starting from next month.
U.S. oil major Conocophillips is selling all of its Nigerian assets including on-shore and off-shore oil and gas fields and a stake in its LNG Brass facility, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.
... could help Conocophillips raise several billions of dollars.
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Boosted by drilling in shale-rock formations such as North Dakota's Bakken and Texas' Eagle Ford, crude production in the U.S. rose to 6.24 million barrels a day in the week ended May 18, the highest level since 1999.This does not jive with the January 1, 2011, data from the CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 28 March 2011, this link, in which US oil production is said to be around 9 million bbls/day.
Nigeria is a political corrupt west Africa nation that its oil development has done little for its people. It is very plain they are incapable of using the oil money for positive purposes. The environmental disaster that has evolved is awful.
ReplyDeleteIt is just as well the United States wean itself of
supporting a continuation of this situation. They will have to find new customers for their oil in India and China.
Yes, again, this is/was another country that is killing their golden goose.
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