Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu who gave this indication, expressed hope that the ongoing talks might result into the US resuming buying Nigeria’s crude oil.
Kachikwu said that despite having diversified into the Asian market and other parts of the world, the talks with the US government on the possibility of the latter resuming the purchase of crude oil from Nigeria is part of the outcome of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the United States.
He, however, explained that it would be wrong to say that there’s presently zero infusion of Nigerian crude into the US, noting that there are about three oil majors, including ExxonMobil, which are US-based companies that export their share of Nigerian crude into US-based refineries. He therefore stated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) portion of crude is the one being discussed. [myad]
