Nigeria earned N397 billion from the export of Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as cooking gas, in the third quarter of 2017, data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has revealed. The NBS in its Third Quarter 2017 Foreign Trade Statistics, stated that the country exported LNG valued at N386.028 billion, while cooking gas export stood at N11.835 billion.
Generally, the report stated that total earnings from gas export in the period under review stood at N483.4 billion, comprising other gaseous components in addition to LNG and LPG. Cooking Gas Specifically, the report disclosed that other petroleum gases export stood at N30.8 billion; Liquefied Propane export also fetched the country N19.113 billion; while the country exported N14.71 billion worth of naphthalene. In addition, Nigeria exported liquefied butane worth N13.71 billion; other LPGs and other gaseous hydrocarbons valued at N7.199 billion. Furthermore, contrary to claims that the United States had stopped buying Nigeria’s crude oil, the NBS report stated that Nigeria exported crude oil to the US valued at N457.732 billion in the third quarter of 2017, making the country the second highest buyer of Nigeria’s crude oil.
India emerged the highest buyer, with the purchase of crude oil valued at N550.88 billion in the period under review; while Nigeria exported crude oil to Spain, Netherlands, France and Indonesia valued at N298.73 billion, N220.52 billion, N178.18 billion and N162.1 billion. Also, South Africa, Canada, the United Kingdom and Italy purchased Nigeria’s crude oil valued at N161.5 billion, N148.9 billion, N107.5 billion and N100.9 billion respectively.
The NBS noted that the structure of Nigeria’s export trade was still dominated by crude oil exports, which contributed N2.972 trillion or 83.17 per cent to the value of total exports in the third quarter of 2017. It said, “Exports by section revealed that Nigeria exported mainly mineral products, which accounted for N3.475 trillion or 97.2 per cent of the total export value. The second largest component was ‘prepared foodstuffs; beverages, spirits and vinegar; tobacco’, which contributed N25.81 billion or 0.7 per cent of the total exports. “In the third quarter, Nigeria exported most products to Europe, with an export value of N1.293 trillion; Asia N1.035 trillion and America N826.98 billion. Value of Exports to Africa were only N367.28 billion, among which N114.93 billion worth of goods were exported to ECOWAS countries.
” The NBS had put the country’s total exports in the third quarter of 2017 at N3.573 trillion, representing a 15.19 per cent growth compared to the second quarter of the same year and a 53.85 per cent growth compared to the third quarter in 2016. It had also noted that total imports in the quarter under review, in contrast, decreased to N2.349 trillion, representing a decline of 9.41 per cent quarter- on -quarter and 4.47 per cent on a year -on -year basis. It added that trade balance of Nigeria in third quarter 2017 amounted to N1.225 trillion, due to a continued value increase in exports and a decline in imports. “This figure in the third quarter more than doubled the value in the previous quarter and it is the first time that trade balance exceeded N1 trillion since the last quarter of 2014,” it explained.
Source:Vanguard
