The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in its recent External Sector Development Report has disclosed that crude oil and gas exports dipped by $5.66 billion within the first quarter of 2015.
The CBN also stated that crude oil and gas exports component declined from $18.96 billion and $20.85 billion in the fourth and first quarter of 2014 respectively to $13.30 billion.
The drop, notwithstanding, the report showed that crude oil and gas export still accounted for 92.9 per cent of aggregate exports in the review period. It further said that total external trade depreciated by 17.1 per cent from its fourth quarter 2014 figure to $26.74 billion in the first quarter of 2015.
The dip was blamed on the value of external trade on the decline in crude oil receipts occasioned by fall in oil prices at the international market from an average of $70 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2014 to $54.50 in the first quarter of 2015.
The CBN report stated that, “crude oil and gas exports component declined from $18.96 billion and $20.85 billion in fourth quarter 2014 and first quarter 2014 respectively to $13.30 billion and accounted for 92.9 per cent of aggregate exports in the review period.
Non-oil exports which recorded $1.02 billion rose marginally by 2.0 per cent but declined by 8.9 per cent, respectively, when compared with the levels recorded in the preceding and corresponding quarters in 2014. Oil sector imports declined by 38.1 and 24.4 per cent while non-oil component declined by 12.9 and 3.8 per cent, respectively when compared with fourth quarter 2014 and first quarter 2014.
Non-oil imports remained dominant, accounting for 83.7 per cent of total, while oil sector imports accounted for the balance.”
Also, the report stated that the country spent $2.021 billion, about N404.2 billion, on the importation of crude oil and gas in the quarter under review, dropping by 38.31 per cent from $3.276 billion, about N655.2 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2014.
The report further showed that foreign investment inflow into the Nigerian oil and gas sector rose sharply from $46,459 in the fourth quarter of 2014 to $9.47 million, about N1.89 billion in the first quarter of 2015. Also, foreign capital inflow into the drilling sector rose slightly by 0.43 per cent from $1.004 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 2014 to $1.01 million in the first quarter of 2015.
