By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo
Nigeria’s oil exports rose 46 percent to 9.15 trillion naira ($59 billion) last year as prices increased and companies raised output on improved security in the Niger River delta, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, earned $196 billion from oil and gas exports in the four years through 2010, the statistics office said today in a statement. The West African nation depends on oil exports for more than 80 percent of government revenue and 95 percent of foreign-exchange income.
Energy companies in Nigeria stepped up oil output in 2010 as militant attacks on installations declined after a government amnesty to fighters in late 2009, according to the Department of Petroleum Resources, the country’s oil-industry regulator. The average price of oil rose 28 percent in the year.
Nigeria is the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. The country’s crude is pumped by Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. (CVX), Total SA (FP) and Eni SpA (ENI) in joint ventures with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
Attacks by armed groups in the Niger delta region, home to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, cut more than 28 percent of the country’s oil output between 2006 and 2009, according to Bloomberg data.
The West African nation currently pumps about 2.1 million barrels of oil a day, according to the state oil company.
The value of non-oil exports rose to 3.86 trillion naira last year from 2.71 trillion naira in the previous year, the statistics bureau said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dulue Mbachu at dmbachu@bloomberg.net.
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