Over the course of September, several oil refineries in India are expected to take deliveries of crude oil produced in Nigeria. This follows a series of deals in the spot market around the end of July.
The state-owned Indian Oil Corporation purchased one million barrels of oil from the Agbami field, to be delivered by oil trader Trafigura. Meanwhile the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, which is also state-owned, has made similar purchases from both Nigeria and Angola.
West African producers have not historically exported significant volumes to India, focusing instead on supplying domestic markets along with customers in North America or Europe.