U.S imports of crude oil from Nigeria surged to 559,000 barrels a day in mid-March, compared with an average of 52,000 for all of 2015, according to data from the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) .
This is because U.S. producers, who reaped the benefits of the shale revolution, no longer enjoy a steep price advantage over foreign rivals in selling to domestic refiners.
Shale oil production has fallen by about 600,000 barrels a day from its peak of 9.6 million in 2015.
Now refineries are buying foreign oil to replace the lost U.S. output.
Traders are also storing much of the less-expensive imported oil to sell when prices rise.
It is yet to be seen if this is a onetime bleep or more sustainable rebound for Nigeria.
However as oil prices rise and U.S shale production comes back on stream, imports of Nigerian crude is bound to fall.
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