India Replaces US as Largest Importer of Nigeria's crude

India has replaced the United States of America as the largest importer of

Nigeria's crude with China and Malaysia following closely.

The US which had traditionally taken the bulk of Nigeria's crude has in

recent months drastically reduced its demand which now stands at about

250,000barrels per day. India however now purchases some 30 percent of

Nigeria's daily crude production which currently hovers around 2.5million

barrels.
Speaking in Moscow, Russia at the on-going 21st World Petroleum Congress,

Coordinator Corporate Planning and Strategy, Nigerian National Petroleum

Corporation, Dr. Tim Okon told newsmen that the Asian countries have since

replaced the US.
Dr. Okon who also doubles as the Director of Transformation of the NNPC

explained that Nigeria would not ignore any market in its 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 noted that 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 currently

before the National Assembly needs to be passed into law to enable the

country to 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 Dr. 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'.