(Ecofin Agency) - Nigeria’s crude oil export to India dropped by 54% in January due to several attacks on the Trans Forcados Pipeline. The Trans Forcados Pipeline, which is the major trunk line within the Forcados oil pipeline system, has been shut since last year, making the South Asian country turn to Angola.

However, Austin Avuru, the Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, a Nigerian upstream exploration and production company, last month said the pipeline could be reopened by the end of Q2 of 2017.

India is a major buyer of Nigerian crude, which is light and sweet and meets the requirement of Indian refiners. From 2015 to 2016, India imported close to 23.7 million metric tonnes of Nigerian crude, almost 12% of India's total oil imports. The Asian country also imports around 2 million mt/year of LNG from Nigeria.

Attacks on pipelines by several militant groups in the Niger Delta region have slashed Nigeria's oil production helping to push the country into recession. As a matter of fact, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu, earlier this week said the country lost as much as $100bn in revenue in 2016, due to attacks which slashed crude output to 1.2 million bpd by militants in the Niger Delta region.

Anita Fatunji