Abuja, Nigeria – Nigeria earned 31.54 billion US dollars from crude oil exports in 2025, marking a 14 percent decline from 36.85 billion US dollars in 2024.
The drop underscores the continued vulnerability of the country’s external earnings to oil market fluctuations despite rising gas and refined petroleum exports.
Okay News reports that data from the Central Bank of Nigeria shows the current account surplus fell to 14.04 billion US dollars in 2025, down from 19.03 billion US dollars the previous year. The decline was attributed to weaker crude oil receipts, even though total crude oil production rose to 530.41 million barrels in 2025 compared to 408.68 million barrels in 2024.
Nigeria produced a combined 599.64 million barrels of crude oil and condensate in 2025, falling short of its budget target of 766.5 million barrels. The shortfall of 166.86 million barrels reflected operational disruptions and repeated failure to meet Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quotas in nine months of the year.
Gas and refined petroleum exports helped offset some of the losses. Gas export earnings rose 21 percent to 10.51 billion US dollars, while refined petroleum exports reached 6.13 billion US dollars, driven by the Dangote Refinery’s growing capacity. Total oil and gas exports increased to 48.17 billion US dollars in 2025 from 45.51 billion US dollars in 2024.
However, external pressures persisted. Non-oil imports rose 14 percent to 29.24 billion US dollars, while service account outflows increased to 14.58 billion US dollars. Primary income outflows surged 61 percent to 9.09 billion US dollars due to higher dividend and interest payments to foreign investors.
Fuel imports declined to 10 billion US dollars from 14.06 billion US dollars in 2024, reflecting improved domestic refining. Yet crude oil imports of 3.74 billion US dollars were recorded, linked to feedstock purchases by the Dangote Refinery. Overall, Nigeria’s balance of payments surplus narrowed to 4.23 billion US dollars in 2025 from 6.83 billion US dollars in 2024, even as external reserves rose to 45.75 billion US dollars.
