INDIA BUYS MORE NIGERIAN CRUDE AS DANGOTE REFINERY IMPORTS UNITED STATES OIL

In an unexpected turn in global oil trade, Indian refiners are stepping up purchases of Nigerian crude, even as Nigeria’s 20 billion dollars Dangote Refinery increasingly relies on United States oil imports.

Indian Oil Corporation recently bought one million barrels of Nigeria’s Agbami crude for September delivery via trader Trafigura, as part of India’s push to diversify away from Russian supplies.

Meanwhile, the Dangote Refinery in Lagos imported an average of 10 million barrels of United States crude in July, despite a local naira-for-crude deal with the Nigerian government.

Industry experts have called the situation an oil trade irony, with Nigerian oil heading to India while the country’s own refinery looks abroad for feedstock.