- Nigerian crude and condensate to India in 2024 (EIA estimate)1
- 123,000 b/d
- share of Nigeria's 2025 crude export earnings (CBN)2
- 9.0%
- destination for Nigerian crude by value in Q1 2025 (NBS)3
- No. 1
Trade flows
The EIA estimates that India took about 123,000 barrels per day of Nigerian crude and condensate in 2024, making it the largest importer in the Asia-Pacific region.1 Central Bank of Nigeria figures put India at 9.00% of the country's US$31.54 billion crude export earnings in 2025, worth about US$2.84 billion.2 Nigeria's statistics bureau ranked India first among crude destinations in the first quarter of 2025, at ₦1.41 trillion.3
The 2022–23 collapse and recovery
The relationship is price-sensitive. Bureau of Statistics data show Nigerian crude exports to India falling from about ₦1.09 trillion in the second quarter of 2022 to ₦327.8 billion in the first quarter of 2023, a drop attributed to Indian refiners switching to discounted Russian crude.4 Volumes then recovered. Naira values across these years are not directly comparable because of currency devaluation; the direction of travel is the reliable signal.
Refiners with documented purchases
Indian state refiners buy West African crude through frequent spot tenders, typically awarded to trading houses or the trading arms of producers. Reuters reported in 2025 that Indian Oil Corporation bought two million barrels of Nigerian crude in one tender — one cargo each of Agbami and Usan — from TotalEnergies and Shell.5 In August 2026 Hindustan Petroleum bought one million barrels each of Okwuibome and Utapate from Glencore for its Rajasthan refinery, and separately bought Forcados and Bonga, in purchases linked by the reporting to supply disruption in the Middle East.6 Indian Oil also held an NNPC term contract for 60,000 barrels per day in the 2015–16 cycle.7
What this means for a seller or buyer
The Indian route to Nigerian crude is institutional: published tenders, established trading houses as counterparties, letters of credit, and cargoes of about one million barrels. We have found no public evidence of Indian refiners buying through informal intermediaries. We do not claim that any named company is currently seeking Nigerian crude; the purchases above are dated, documented events.
Documented buyers at a glance
| Company | Type | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Indian Oil Corporation | State refiner | Tender purchase of Agbami and Usan, 2025; NNPC term contract 2015–165 |
| Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) | State refiner | Tender purchases of Okwuibome, Utapate, Forcados and Bonga, 20266 |
Nigerian export statistics record the declared destination and are published by value; importer statistics record arrivals by volume. The two rarely match exactly. See the notes on the markets overview.
The qualities of the grades named on this page are in the Nigerian crude grade database. How such cargoes are actually contracted — by tender, under term contracts or through an established trader — is explained in how Nigerian crude oil is sold, and what a buyer should prepare before approaching any seller is in the international buyer centre.