Nigeria exported crude oil valued at N10.31 trillion in the three months spanning October to December 2023, as the commodity again took the lion’s share of the country’s total worth of goods shipped outside its shores.
Accounting for a huge chunk of 81 percent of the total exports during the period, foreign trade data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023, indicated that the value of crude oil taken out of the country in the three months under review, also grew by 20.80 percent.
In comparison, in the previous quarter (Q3), crude oil shipped out of Nigeria was N8.53 trillion, while Q2 was N4.91 trillion, an increase in value of 109.91 percent between the two periods.
For years, Nigeria’s total crude oil production had steadily declined as a result of waning investment, vandalism as well as massive theft in the Niger Delta.
In the third quarter of 2022, the federal government decided to pick up the gauntlet when crude production fell to almost 900,000 barrels per day, recruiting local security groups into the pipeline’s surveillance programme.
Also, there has been substantial increase in Nigeria’s oil rigs count, hitting almost 30 in recent times, indicating a rise in upstream operations in the oil and gas industry.
After months of steady rise in output, in January, for the first time in years, Nigeria’s crude oil production, excluding condensates, climbed to 1.42 million barrels per day, following the same growth trajectory.
Besides, there are already indications that when the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) releases the production data for February, the country would have met or exceeded its 1.5 million bpd renegotiated quota with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Q3, 2023.
“The value of crude oil exports in Q4, 2023 stood at N10,310.70 billion indicating an increase of 20.80 percent compared to the value recorded in Q3, 2023 (N8,535.61 billion) and increased by 109.91 percent when compared to the same period in 2022 (N4,911.92 billion).
“The value of other oil products exports in Q4, 2023 was N1,287.65 billion; this showed an increase of 13.61 percent and by 79.98 percent when compared to the value recorded in Q3, 2023 (N1,133.42 billion) and the value in the fourth quarter of 2022 (N715.45 billion) respectively,” the NBS report showed.
But Nigeria’s performance in the solid minerals sector continued to lag during the period under consideration, yielding just N58.92 billion, though it was an improvement of 6.43 percent compared to the previous quarter.
“The value of solid minerals imports in the fourth quarter of 2023 stood at N58.92 billion. This value was 6.43 percent higher than the value recorded in Q3, 2023 (N55.36 billion) and 72.68 percent higher than the value recorded in Q4, 2022 (N34.12 billion).”
Further analysis of Q4 trade by partners showed that the top five export destinations in the quarter were the Netherlands, with N1,910.47 billion or 15.05 percent; India with N1,101.47 billion or 8.68 percent, and Spain with N1,030.09 billion or 8.11 percent.
Also listed were: Canada with N907.64 billion or 7.15 percent; France with N799.77 billion or 6.30 percent of total exports, while altogether, exports to the top five countries amounted to 45.29 percent of the total value of exports.
“The largest exported product in the fourth quarter of 2023 was petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude was valued at N10,310.70 billion, representing 81.23 percent.
“This was followed by natural gas, with N1,015.84 billion accounting for 8.00 percent, and urea, whether or not in aqueous solution, with N251.90 billion or 1.98 percent of total exports,” the report added.
But overall, during the fourth quarter of 2023, Nigeria’s total trade stood at N26,801.95 billion. Exports were valued at N12,693.62 billion while imports amounted to N14,108.33 billion.
On an annual basis, total trade was N71,880.01 billion, of which imports amounted to N35,917.62 billion, and exports were recorded at N35,962.39 billion.
Total exports in the quarter under review increased by 22.68 percent when compared to the amount recorded in the third quarter of 2023, which was N10,346.60 billion as well as by 99.60 percent compared to the corresponding quarter in 2022, which was N6,359.61