- of South Africa's 2024 crude imports came from Nigeria (official figures)1
- 48%
- of Nigeria's 2025 crude export earnings (CBN)2
- 4.98%
Trade flows
South Africa's Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources reported that Nigeria supplied 48% of the country's crude oil imports in 2024 — about 4.5 billion litres — far ahead of Saudi Arabia at 18%, as relayed by Daily Maverick.1 The Central Bank of Nigeria records South Africa at 4.98% of 2025 crude export earnings, about US$1.57 billion.2
A shrinking refining base
The same reporting notes that only two crude oil refineries remain in operation in South Africa: Astron Energy's plant in Cape Town and the inland Natref refinery.1 Refinery closures have reduced the country's total crude demand, which concentrates purchasing in very few hands. We have found no public source attributing Nigerian cargoes to one refinery or the other, and so we attribute none.
What this means
The intra-African trade is substantial — Africa as a whole accounted for 13.92% of Nigeria's 2025 crude export earnings2 — and the voyage from the Gulf of Guinea to Cape Town is short compared with Asian routes. See also West African regional buyers.
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.