One of Nigeria’s most important oil customers, India, purchased over 336,000 barrels of crude daily from the country in October.
The country considered Nigerian petroleum more than it did import from the United States – a revision of September’s trend.
Unnamed sources informed Reuters that India bought a record 336,000 barrels per day of oil from the US, but the country was fourth to Nigeria on the Asian state’s choice of import.
The reason for the Nigerian preference is down to new rules from the International Maritime Organisation saying fuel used on ships must have reduced Sulphur content, analysts say.
“Indian demand for gasoil has been falling but overall Asian demand has been relatively strong because of new marine fuel rules from January.
“And good diesel cracks is prompting refiners to buy distillate rich crudes like that of Nigeria,” an analyst with Refinitiv, Ehsan Ul Haq, said.
The outlook for the entirety of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was gloomier however.
The third largest oil importer purchased 3.43m barrels of oil from the OPEC alliance daily in October.
This is seven per cent less than the 80 per cent stake the cartel supplied in September.
On cue with predictions from the International Energy agency that demand for oil from OPEC will decline by a million barrels in 2020, India sourced more of the foregone seven per cent from the competitive US and other none OPEC countries.
Data sourced by the news agency also showed that demand for fuel by the 1bn plus population declined by 1.4 per cent in October, while diesel consumption is on a three-year low.
Iraq regained top spot as the chief source of Indian oil from Saudi Arabia, while the Hindu-majority state increased its petroleum purchase volumes from September lows caused by refinery maintenance.
