The United States’ crude oil imports from Nigeria plunged to 539,000 barrels per day in February from 4.87 million bpd in January. The US imports of Nigerian crude have dropped in recent months, hitting almost a four-year low in February.

The country bought 5.18 million bpd in December, down from 10.03 million bpd in January 2018, the latest data obtained from the Energy Information Administration on Friday showed. Its imports of Nigerian crude oil dropped by 48.87 million barrels or 43 per cent in 2018, the EIA said. The US imports of Nigerian crude fell to 64.06 million barrels last year from a five-year high of 112.92 million barrels in 2017.

The EIA data showed that the country imported 75.81 million barrels of Nigerian oil in 2016, up from 19.85 million barrels in 2015. US imports of Nigerian crude fell from 148.48 million barrels in 2012 to 87.40 million barrels in 2013 on the back of shale oil boom.

Light sweet Nigerian crude is very similar to the light oil produced in US shale. As US shale production has grown, the appetite for Nigerian crude in the US has dropped dramatically. In 2014, when global oil prices started to fall from a peak of $115 per barrel, Nigeria saw a further drop in US imports of its crude to 21.24 million barrels.

For the first time in decades, the US did not purchase any barrel of Nigerian crude in July and August 2014 as well as June 2015, according to the EIA data.
In 2010, the US bought as much as 358.92 million barrels from Nigeria, but slashed its imports to 280.08 million barrels in 2011. With the sharp increase in its production, the US oil exports averaged 1.9 million bpd in 2018, about twice the amount that was exported in 2017, according to the EIA.

Crude oil exports from the US to the United Kingdom overtook supplies from other countries including Nigeria for the first time since such shipments began in 2015. In January this year, the US supplied the equivalent of almost one in every four barrels of crude processed by UK oil refineries, or 264,000 bpd, according to the Financial Times. That level was more than Norway, Russia, Nigeria or Algeria, according to data from the cargo-tracking company Kpler, which have all been major suppliers to the UK in recent years.

South Korea overtook China as the number-two destination for US crude behind Canada in 2018, as shipments to South Korea soared to a record high of 558,000 bpd in December, according to the EIA. The US sent an average 236,000 bpd of crude to South Korea and 228,000 bpd to China in 2018. Canada remained the top customer on an annual basis for 2018, but South Korea took the top spot for December. The US sent an average of 378,000 bpd of crude to Canada in 2018, with December exports at 431,000 bpd.

The US sent an average 236,000 bpd of crude to South Korea and 228,000 bpd to China in 2018. Canada remained the top customer on an annual basis for 2018, but South Korea took the top spot for December. The US sent an average of 378,000 bpd of crude to Canada in 2018, with December exports at 431,000 bpd.

How Should a Developer Divide Their Time to Get the Most Out?

Always the question! Make sure to check out the schedule (especially the FullSTK stage as that is full of technical content) and have a plan for your time. I might be biased, since I’ve hosted and spoken on FullSTK over the past few years. Make sure to take breaks, though. Expo can be busy, with a fast pace. Look for places in the schedule where you can walk away and focus on chatting to folks, just to review ideas.

What’s the Most Useful Talk You’ve Ever Seen at Genesis Expo?

One of the best talks I’ve seen was at Expo in 2018. It was a talk by Curt Cronin about teams and leadership. Based on his experience as a Navy Seal, he discussed how teams of developers (and the greater tech space) can function better when focusing on trust and communication. There are always plenty of great talks – I focus mostly on FullSTK and binate.io as a developer, with the occasional nod to a Centre Stage talk from leaders in the industry.

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

That said, nothing compares to being involved. I try to engage with as many people as possible to see where things are leading and where the focus is. There are some conversations that become more “what not to do”, but overall, engaging with people is where I learn most.