据8月23日The Punch报道，今年1至5月，美国大幅削减了对尼日利亚原油的进口，至937万桶，比2019年同期减少了约1167万桶。根据美国能源信息署周五的数据，2019年1月到5月，美国进口了约2103万桶尼日利亚原油。
今年到目前为止，北美国家购买尼日利亚原油的最高月进口量为212万桶，而2019年约为1178万桶。与2019年第四季度的1507万桶相比，2020年第一季度购买量下降了63.03%，至553万桶。
美国分别在1月份购买了192万桶，2月份购买了193万桶，3月份购买了168万桶，在4月和5月分别购买了170万桶和212万桶尼日利亚原油。过去几年，美国大幅减少了对尼日利亚原油的进口，因为美国页岩油与尼日利亚的轻质低硫原油类似。
在疫情引发的油价和需求暴跌之后，尼日利亚一直难以出售其原油货物。其实，在由疫情导致的封锁和原油需求崩溃之前，美国页岩油的崛起已经证明对尼日利亚构成了独特的挑战。
蓬勃发展的页岩油产量大幅削减了尼日利亚对美国的原油出口——美国曾是尼日利亚40%至50%货物的出口目的地。由于页岩油的繁荣，美国从尼日利亚进口的原油从2012年的1.4848亿桶下降到2013年的8740万桶。
2014年，当全球石油价格从每桶115美元的峰值开始下跌时，美国对尼日利亚的原油进口量进一步下降到2124万桶。根据EIA的数据，美国在2014年7月和8月以及2015年6月没有购买一桶尼日利亚原油，这是几十年来的第一次。
2010年，美国从尼日利亚进口了多达3.582亿桶石油，但2011年将进口量削减至2.808亿桶。EIA称:“美国所消耗的石油中有很大一部分是由自己生产的，但会通过进口来帮助供应国内和国际市场。”
2019年，美国的石油产量约为1925万桶/天，消耗量约为2046万桶/天。EIA表示，从其他国家进口原油有助于满足国内的石油需求。美国进口的一些原油被美国炼油厂提炼成石油产品(如汽油、取暖油、柴油和航空燃料)等，然后再用于出口。部分进口石油也可能会被储存起来，然后出口。
报告称，2019年，美国从约90个国家进口了约910万桶/天的石油，其中包括680万桶/天的原油，230万桶/天的非原油液体和精炼石油产品，这是自1996年以来石油进口总量的最低水平。
王佳晶 摘译自 The Punch
原文如下：
US cuts Nigerian oil imports by 11.67 million barrels
The United States slashed its imports of Nigerian crude oil to 9.37 million barrels in the first five months of this year, 11.67 million barrels lower than what it bought in the same period of 2019.
The US imported 21.03 million barrels of Nigeria crude from January to May 2019, according to data obtained from the US Energy Information Administration The highest monthly volume of Nigerian crude purchased by the North American country so far this year was 2.12 million barrels, compared to 11.78 million barrels in 2019.
Its purchases plunged by 63.03 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 to 5.53 million barrels, compared to the last quarter of 2019 when it bought 15.07 million barrels from Nigeria.
The US bought 1.92 million barrels in January; 1.93 million barrels in February; 1.68 million barrels in March; 1.70 million barrels in April, and 2.12 million barrels in May, according to the EIA.
The US has significantly reduced imports of Nigerian crude oil in the past few years as the oil produced in its shale operations is similar to the light sweet Nigerian crude.
Following the coronavirus-induced crash in oil prices and demand, Nigeria has been struggling to sell its crude oil cargoes.
Prior to the lockdowns and collapse in crude oil demand caused by coronavirus crisis, the rise of US shale oil was already proving uniquely challenging for Nigeria.
Booming production from shale drastically cut Nigerian exports to the US – US imports of Nigerian crude fell from 148.48 million barrels in 2012 to 87.40 million barrels in 2013 In 2014, when global oil prices started to fall from a peak of $115 per barrel, Nigeria saw a further drop in US imports of its crude to 21.24 million barrels.
For the first time in decades, the US did not purchase any barrel of Nigerian crude in July and August 2014 as well as June 2015, according to the EIA data.
In 2010, the US bought as much as 358.92 million barrels from Nigeria, but slashed its imports to 280.08 million barrels in 2011.
“The United States produces a large share of the petroleum it consumes, but it uses imports to help supply domestic and international markets,” the EIA said.
In 2019, the country produced about 19.25 million barrels per day of petroleum, and it consumed about 20.46 million bpd.
The agency said imports from other countries helped to supply domestic demand for petroleum.
“Some of the crude oil that the US imports are refined by US refineries into petroleum products (such as gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, and jet fuel) that the US exports,” it added.
According to the EIA, some of the imported petroleum may be stored and subsequently exported.
It said the country imported about 9.10 million bpd of petroleum in 2019 from about 90 countries, which included 6.8 million bpd of crude oil and 2.3 million bpd of non-crude petroleum liquids and refined petroleum products, adding this was the lowest level of total petroleum imports since 1996.
