US to buy crude oil from Nigeria - Minister

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December 29, 2015 3:54 PM

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu recently revealed that the United States has finalized plans to start buying crude oil from Nigeria.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu recently revealed that the United States has finalized plans to start buying crude oil from Nigeria. According to the minister, this move would boost Nigeria's oil revenue. Kachikwu also claimed that it was one of the numerous benefits of President Buhari's visit to the United States.

“Post the President’s visit, there has been an overture from them to say they want to buy limited quantity of Nigerian oil to support the market. We are still ongoing on that,” he said.

The petroleum minister also claimed that the US still needs to import crude even in the oil exploration in the country. According to Kachikwu, the domestic production in US is not sufficient for her internal consumption; therefore, importation is inevitable.

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“The fact of U.S. being back into the sales market obviously what you find is that the volume of export U.S. intends to do is very minimal for a lot of internal consumption.

“And strategically they are still reaching out to buy certain barrels and, in fact, they are hoping to buy a couple of Nigerian barrels. So the strategic reserve is key for them to make a very strong strategic reserve. They have also produced more than they have never done in their history now .

“From the financial point of view they sometimes sell and still buy, and they do that with gold, they do that with cotton, they do it with a lot of commodities. The whole idea is that if oil prices are cheaper, they buy, and use that to fill their reserves.”

Dr. Ibe Kachikwu disclosed this to reports at the Kaduna airport after inspecting the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) in Kaduna State.

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