The West African nations of Nigeria, Angola, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea accounted for 58 percent of the light, sweet crude imported into Gulf Coast ports in June 2012. North African nations accounted for a further 30 percent.

The shift in the U.S. market could have lasting repercussions on global markets as well.
Weaker Brent
A drop in U.S. imports of light, sweet oil could weaken Brent, Garcia said. Raymond James is forecasting $80 Brent next year, based predominantly on production growth in non-OPEC countries like the U.S., he said.

“Unconventional oils and gas are changing everything about our competitiveness in the United States,” Bill Klesse, Valero Energy Corp.’s chief executive officer, said yesterday at the Barclays CEO Energy/Power Conference in New York. “Before you know it, we’re going to have so much light, sweet crude that in the U.S. Gulf Coast we’re not going to be importing light, sweet crude, and we think that happens next year.”

citizenisb: “Unconventional oils and gas are changing everything about our competitiveness in the United States,” Bill Klesse, Valero Energy Corp.’s chief executive officer, said yesterday at the Barclays CEO Energy/Power Conference in New York. “Before you know it, we’re going to have so much light, sweet crude that in the U.S. Gulf Coast we’re not going to be importing light, sweet crude, and we think that happens next year.”

Nigeria makes a load more money if it sells its crude and LNG to the far east countries. Yes, there are Shale gas & Tar Sand developments in the US which doesn't make it economically viable to sell to the US (US has started exporting liquefied gas too), but the rate of growth in China, Far eastern countries more than makes up the shortfall in US demand.

Even with additional shipping cost & voyage time, Nigeria makes 1.2 what she would make if her products are sold to the US market. Please, google "world economic outlook", BP Energy outlook 2030 & Exxon Mobil Energy outlook and see the direction Hydrocarbon energy use is headed.

Though refiners in Asia are said to be increasing crude oil imports, it is more difficult to ship crude oil from Nigeria to Asian countries than to the United States because of the long distances.

For instance, the distance from the Shell’s Bonny Export terminal in Rivers State, to Tianjin, China, is 12,172 miles, compared with 5,847 miles to New York Harbour in the United States.

With these long distances, Asian refiners are said to be demanding for discount to buy Nigeria’s crude.
Refiners that use Nigeria crude oil are also closing plants on the United States East Coast, the main destination for Nigerian exports, amid falling returns on investment.

The petroleum industry bill needs to come up ASAP because Nigeria is more of Natural gas than crude oil. Gazprom and Exxon Mobil have billions of Dollars earmarked for our gas fields but with no legislation nobody is going to risk that kind of money.

The earlier we end our crude oil daydreams the better for us except we are earnestly praying for a full scale war in the Middle East to help us.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/03/01/our-dependence-foreign-oil-declining

We’re relying less on imported oil for a number of reasons, not least that production is up here in the United States. In fact, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. As part of his strategy to increase safe, responsible oil production in the United States, President Obama has opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration and we now have more working oil and gas rigs than the rest of the world—combined.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/opinion/brooks-the-shale-gas-revolution.html

The U.S. now seems to possess a 100-year supply of natural gas, which is the cleanest of the fossil fuels. This cleaner, cheaper energy source is already replacing dirtier coal-fired plants. It could serve as the ideal bridge, Amy Jaffe of Rice University says, until renewable sources like wind and solar mature.

Already shale gas has produced more than half a million new jobs, not only in traditional areas like Texas but also in economically wounded places like western Pennsylvania and, soon, Ohio. If current trends continue, there are hundreds of thousands of new jobs to come.

Chemical companies rely heavily on natural gas, and the abundance of this new source has induced companies like Dow Chemical to invest in the U.S. rather than abroad. The French company Vallourec is building a $650 million plant in Youngstown, Ohio, to make steel tubes for the wells. States like Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York will reap billions in additional revenue. Consumers also benefit. Today, natural gas prices are less than half of what they were three years ago, lowering electricity prices. Meanwhile, America is less reliant on foreign suppliers.

USA please hurry up. It would make us so happy to see the rest of the world mine there own resources and leave us alone. Let us progress or die off from 100% our own doing. STOP SPONSORING TERRORISTS, WARS AND TYRANTS IN AFRICA. YOU AND YOUR BROTHERS IN PINK-LAND. YOU WOULD END UP HURTING YOURSELVES. KARMA IS A BITCH. NOBODY BE SUPERMAN.

Bullshit. Why u guy act like u nO get maths.
As long as u.s still gives visa, and buy car ... They must consume fuel.

Have u considered what happens to america if they stop buying fuel.

Think forex, taxes, purchasing power of the dollar, importance on certain fora. Ha ha.. She needs to keep buying fuel to control nigeria, saudi arabia e.t.c

What do you think will happen when asia becomes the largest crude oil buyer.

If ur good in business you know what am driving at.

The US Dollar as the Worlds reserve currency is fast fading

The politics of the PIB will seriously dent the future of the Oil and Gas industry if it is not passed on time.

Bunkering is a big issue in Nigeria now and they have so much money that they are almost forming a parallel government. They killed 3 NNPC engineers today for trying to fix a vandalised pipeline at Arepo in Ogun State.