Nigeria imports $71.29bn of petroleum products in 2020 – OPEC

The amount of money spent on the importation of petroleum products into Nigeria in 2020 is $43.46 billion higher than the revenue which the country earned from the export of petroleum products in the same year.

In its 2021 report on the latest values of petroleum exports and imports of member nations of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) stated that Nigeria exported $27.73 billion worth of petroleum products in 2020.

It also revealed that the value of the country’s petroleum imports in 2020 was $71.285 billion, which indicated that Nigeria’s petroleum imports exceeded its exports by $43.56 billion during the review period.

Further analysis of OPEC’s latest petroleum imports and exports’ figures showed that Nigeria’s imports of petroleum products consistently exceeded the nation’s exports for five years.

Although Nigeria is a major producer of crude oil and gas, the country largely depends on imported petroleum products that are refined in foreign nations.

This is because Nigeria’s refineries have remained dormant for several years, despite repeated turn around maintenance which were done by successive governments on the facilities.

It was reported in August this year that foreign refineries processed crude oil valued at N2.39 trillion to ensure domestic supply of refined petroleum products in Nigeria.

The report stated that figures obtained from the Nigerian Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation showed that the N2.39 trillion crude oil was processed during a 13-month period.

It stated that foreign refiners processed 145.86 million barrels of oil for Nigeria between March 2020 and March 2021, as this was due to the non-functional state of Nigeria’s refineries located in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna.

The OPEC figures therefore showed that the country had been spending more billions of dollars to import petroleum products than the amount of foreign exchange being earned from crude oil sales.