Nigeria generated about N12.81 trillion from crude oil exports in the third quarter of 2025.
Data from the latest Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that crude oil accounted for 56.14 per cent of the country’s total exports in the review period.
While crude oil export value dipped by 4.47 per cent year-on-year from N13.41 trillion recorded in Q3 2024, it rose by 7.03 per cent compared with N11.97 trillion in Q2 2025.
The report further showed that exports of mineral products, driven largely by crude oil and petroleum gases, accounted for N20.01 trillion, representing 87.71 per cent of total exports in Q3 2025.
Other oil-related exports stood at N7.01 trillion, in addition to crude oil earnings of N12.81 trillion, indicating a significant 51.72 per cent increase from N4.62 trillion recorded in Q3 2024, although it was 9.42 per cent lower than the N7.74 trillion posted in the preceding quarter.
Total merchandise trade rose to N38.94 trillion in Q3 2025, reflecting an 8.71 per cent increase year-on-year and a 2.36 per cent rise from Q2 2025.
Exports accounted for 58.59 per cent of total trade at N22.81 trillion, while imports stood at N16.12 trillion, or 41.41 per cent.
The trade balance remained positive at N6.69 trillion, despite declining by 10.36 per cent from the previous quarter.
Natural gas, other petroleum gases in gaseous form, and refined petroleum products such as kerosene-type jet fuel also ranked among Nigeria’s major export items, helping to offset weaker performance in some non-oil sectors, especially agriculture.
Meanwhile, Europe remained Nigeria’s largest export market, receiving goods worth N8.71 trillion, which represented 38.16 per cent of total exports, largely due to crude oil shipments, followed by Asia with N6.40 trillion (28.07 per cent), while Africa accounted for N4.90 trillion, or 21.49 per cent, mainly petroleum products supplied to neighbouring countries.
India was Nigeria’s top single export destination in Q3 2025 with imports valued at N2.26 trillion, followed by Spain with N1.83 trillion, France with N1.66 trillion, the Netherlands with N1.54 trillion, and Italy with N1.46 trillion.
These five countries accounted for 38.34 per cent of total exports.
Oil’s dominance was even more evident in trade with Africa and the ECOWAS sub-region as exports to Africa stood at N4.90 trillion, compared with imports of N595.00 billion.
Crude petroleum oils were valued at N1.94 trillion, making up 39.57 per cent of Nigeria’s exports to the continent, followed by motor spirit at N707.05 billion and gas oil at N692.08 billion.
Within ECOWAS, crude oil exports alone were worth N1.32 trillion, accounting for 42.14 per cent of total exports to the sub-region, further positioning Nigeria as West Africa’s leading energy supplier.
However, the NBS data showed a less robust performance from non-oil exports, with agricultural exports declining by 11.69 per cent year-on-year to N786.62 billion, while manufactured goods exports fell by 6.03 per cent to N978.53 billion, underscoring Nigeria’s continued reliance on oil-driven trade.
