Hope for Nigeria as Germany plans to stop buying Russian oil

More opportunities are about to open up for Nigeria’s oil, as Germany, the world’s 10th largest consumer of crude oil announced plans to stop buying Russian oil.

Germany has a huge daily crude consumption level of 2,383,393 (2.3 million) which is equivalent to 2.5 per cent of the world total.

In a statement released on Wednesday, German’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock said it would halt imports of Russian oil by the end of this year.

“We will halve oil by the summer and will be at zero by the end of the year, and then gas will follow,” she said.

Germany currently buys a quarter of its oil and 40% of its gas from Russia and has warned that it could face a recession if supplies suddenly stopped.

The US has already banned Russian oil imports, while the UK plans to phase them out by the end of the year.

Ms Baerbock said Germany would follow a “European roadmap” in phasing out oil and gas imports.

Read also: Senate identifies crude oil theft as major cause of Nigeria’s economic downturn

The EU has said it will make Europe independent from Russian energy “well before 2030”.

“Our joint exit, the complete exit of the European Union, is our common strength,” Ms Baerbock said.

Germany has already called off the opening of the Russian gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, in response to the war.

Earlier this week, German economic institutes warned that immediately halting Russian imports would spark a sharp recession in Europe’s biggest economy by 2023.

In 2020, Germany bought $1.77 billion worth of crude oil from Nigeria, while as at October 2021 Petroleum oil and petroleum gases stood at (€202M).

These figures are expected to jump as the European giant looks for alternatives to Russia’s crude.

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