\n West Africa’s imports of clean refined petroleum products dropped dramatically to 765,000 barrels per day in May from approximately 997,000 barrels per day in April, according to data from S&P Global’s Commodities at Sea platform.
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\n This shows how rapidly regional supply dynamics are changing, with a month-over-month decline of almost 23%.
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\n BIMCO, a shipping data firm, also noticed that the slump was directly tied to increased output from Nigeria’s refinery, which has a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
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\n As local production rises, fewer imported volumes are required in Nigeria and neighboring markets, resulting in a more comprehensive reorganization of tanker activity in the Atlantic basin.
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\n According to BIMCO estimates, overall imports into West Africa fell even more sharply, by up to 44% during the same period, resulting in a significant fall in shipping demand measured in tonne-miles.
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\n \u201cLR1 and LR2 product tankers recorded the largest declines, down 88 per cent and 78 per cent respectively, and together accounted for 55 per cent of the total tonne-mile loss,\u201d S&P quoted BIMCO as saying.
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\n \u201cMR product tanker tonne-miles fell only 4 per cent year over year during April to May, despite a sharp drop in imports from all major loading regions. A 34-fold increase in volumes from the Americas largely offset the decline, limiting the overall loss,\u201d BIMCO added.
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\n Medium-range (MR) tankers, which normally dominate regional refined product commerce, also suffered a dip, albeit a minor one.
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\n BIMCO reported that MR tanker tonne-miles fell by around 4% year on year between April and May.
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\n This relative resilience was aided by an increase in exports from the Americas, which served to balance lower flows from typical supply centers.
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