America purchases nearly $578 million worth of oil from Nigeria over a quarter, according to a recent study.

The United States' expenditure on crude oil imports from Nigeria totaled $578.78m in the first quarter of 2026, marking a decline from the $681.40m spent in the same period of 2025, as per data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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This decrease of $102.62m, or 15.06 per cent, is evident in the agencies' March 2026 international trade report, which details the value of U.S. imports of Nigerian crude oil on a Cost, Insurance and Freight basis.

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Nigeria has maintained its position as a key African crude supplier to the United States, despite shifts in overall trade dynamics, with the country's crude oil imports valued at $578.78m year-to-date.

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A closer examination of the data reveals that the U.S. imported 7.84 million barrels of crude oil from Nigeria in the first three months of 2026, compared to 8.44 million barrels in the same period of 2025, representing a year-on-year decline of 0.59 million barrels or 7.03 per cent.

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On a monthly basis, U.S. imports from Nigeria experienced a sharp drop between February and March 2026, with imports falling from 4.64 million barrels to 1.54 million barrels, indicating weaker short-term demand or supply adjustments.

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In value terms, the CIF value of Nigerian crude imports also declined month-on-month from $345.33m in February 2026 to $114.49m in March 2026, reflecting a significant decrease in imports.

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The customs value data, which excludes freight and insurance costs, followed a similar pattern, with the year-to-date customs value for Nigerian crude standing at $561.69m in 2026, compared to $663.79m in 2025, representing a drop of $102.10m or 15.38 per cent.

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In the broader African context, Nigeria remained a major contributor to U.S. crude imports from the continent, although overall African exports to the U.S. also declined, with total U.S. crude imports from Africa standing at $1.66bn in the first quarter of 2026, up from $1.10bn in 2025.

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Nigeria's share of total U.S. crude imports from the continent dropped to about 34.8 per cent in Q1 2026, from roughly 61.7 per cent in the same period of 2025, highlighting increased competition from other suppliers such as Libya and Ghana.

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Despite the year-on-year decline, Nigeria's crude still accounted for a notable share of U.S. oil imports, reflecting the continued relevance of its light sweet crude grades in the American refining system.

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The U.S. trade report noted that import values reflect the landed cost of crude oil, including freight and insurance, providing a more comprehensive measure of trade flows than customs values alone, and pointing to a moderation in U.S. demand for Nigerian crude in early 2026.

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Details from the most recent monthly report of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited showed that crude oil sales dropped sharply to 17.37 million barrels in March, down from 22.85 million barrels in February and 25.75 million barrels in January, suggesting that evacuation and logistics challenges persist.

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An analysis of the figures also showed that crude oil output remained flat in March compared to February at 1.56 million barrels per day, but improved from 1.51 million barrels per day recorded in January, with the company citing pipeline disruptions as a significant impact on output.

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According to the NNPC report, the Trans Forcados Pipeline outage, resulting from a leak at the Keremor axis, negatively impacted production volumes, leading to curtailments across several assets from February 20 to March 25, alongside other operational challenges.

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Despite these setbacks, the company maintained that it is implementing targeted recovery strategies to stabilize output, with NNPC Limited continuing to strengthen production resilience by executing restoration plans focused on improving asset reliability, resolving evacuation constraints, and implementing other targeted recovery initiatives.