Nigeria’s oil shipping costs soar as tanker owners steer clear

The cost of shipping oil from Nigeria surged the most in more than a year at the end of a week in which some owners were said to be staying away from Africa’s largest oil producer. 

Freight for ships hauling about 1 million barrels of crude from Nigeria to Europe jumped almost $16,000 a day on Friday, the biggest gain since April 2022. It rose to just over $64,000 a day, data from the Baltic Exchange show.

Earlier in the week, at least two shipowners said they were keeping their vessels away from Nigeria after a series of multimillion dollar tax bills were sent out, seeking to claw back unpaid duties from 2010-2019. 

“Some owners have decided to stay away and, if nothing else, it’s really shifted sentiment because there’s a smaller pool of vessels willing to go there,” said Halvor Ellefsen, a tanker broker at Fearnleys Shipbrokers UK Ltd.