- US crude imports from Nigeria in 2025 (EIA)1
- 137,000 b/d
- the same series in 20051
- 1,077,000 b/d
- of Nigeria's 2025 crude export earnings (CBN)2
- 6.02%
Thousand barrels per day, selected years. Source: EIA.1
Trade flows
EIA data show US imports of Nigerian crude at 1,077 thousand barrels per day in 2005 and 983 in 2010, collapsing to 54 by 2015 as domestic light sweet shale output displaced similar-quality imports. The series has since stabilised: 153 in 2023, 154 in 2024 and 137 in 2025.1 The Central Bank of Nigeria puts the US at 6.02% of 2025 crude export earnings — now smaller than Canada's 8.75%.2
A two-way trade
In February and March 2025 the United States exported more crude to Nigeria (111,000 and 169,000 barrels per day) than it imported from Nigeria (54,000 and 72,000), the first time this had happened. The EIA attributed the import dip mainly to maintenance at the Phillips 66 Bayway refinery in New Jersey, and the exports to purchases by the Dangote refinery.3 US crude exports to Nigeria averaged about 110,000 barrels per day across 2025.4
Refiners with documented purchases
The EIA's explicit link between Bayway's maintenance and the fall in Nigerian imports identifies that East Coast refinery as a principal receiver.3 US Department of Energy data cited by The Philadelphia Inquirer showed Nigeria as the largest source of imported crude for Monroe Energy's Trainer refinery in Pennsylvania in 2021.5 In our assessment, East Coast refineries' reliance on waterborne supply is why light sweet grades from West Africa remain relevant to them.
Reading the numbers
Nigeria's statistics bureau ranked the US as the top destination by value for January–September 2024, while EIA volume data show the US and Spain roughly level that year. Value-based and volume-based rankings differ because grade mix and timing differ; neither is wrong.
Documented buyers at a glance
| Company | Type | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Phillips 66 — Bayway refinery | Refiner | EIA attributes 2025 swings in US imports from Nigeria to this refinery's maintenance3 |
| Monroe Energy — Trainer refinery | Refiner | Nigeria was its largest crude import source in 2021 (US DOE data)5 |
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.