ASoon after, as it turned out, crude oil exports from West Africa turned negative again, during the first half of 2026. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Panchero Costa said: “After a marginal decline in 2024, when global crude oil shipments fell by -0.2% y/y, things picked up in 2025, with full-year volumes increasing by +1.8% y/y.” In January and June, however, oil shipments fell Global crude oil in 2026 fell -6.1% year-on-year to 1,016.4 million tons, excluding all coastal trade, according to ship tracking data from LSEG. Exports from the Arabian Gulf fell by -30.7% year-on-year to 299.7 million tons in January-June 2026, and accounted for 29.5% of global seaborne crude oil trade, down sharply from the historical norm, reflecting The ongoing war in the Persian Gulf. Exports from Russian ports (including oil of Kazakh origin) rose +3.5% year-on-year to 117.1 million tons in January-June 2026, or 11.5% of global trade, and exports from South America rose +31.5% year-on-year to 137.6 million tons (107.3 million tons in January 2026). From the West Africa, exports fell -10.4% y/y to 78.2 million tons and ASEAN exports jumped +14.7% y/y to 59.8 million tons in January-June 2026 (this includes Iranian and Russian shipments).
Source: Banchero Costa
According to Panchero Costa, “In terms of demand (measured by the number of unloading port arrivals), mainland China was the largest sea importer of crude oil in January-June 2026, accounting for 20.5% of global trade. Inbound volumes into China fell by -14.2% year-on-year to 209.5 million tons in January 2026, from 244.1 million tons in January 2025. European Union imports rose by +1.7% year-on-year to 227.6 million tons, representing 22.3% of global trade. For the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), imports decreased by -9.7% year-on-year to 129.8 million tons. Imports to India decreased by -0.3% year-on-year to 119.3 million tons in the period from January to June 2026. To South Korea, imports fell by -18.5% YoY to 56.7 million tons. Imports to Japan fell by -22.5% YoY to 44.1 million tons in January-June 2026. Imports to the United States rose by +8.9% YoY to 62.8 million tons in January-June 2026.
“West Africa as a region is now the world’s fifth-largest exporter of crude oil, after the Persian Gulf, Russia, South America and the United States. It accounted for 7.9% of global crude oil exports in 2025. Total crude oil loadings from West Africa in the 12 months of 2025 increased +2.0% year-on-year to 175.2 million tons, according to revised LSEG ship-tracking data. The trend has been negative for many years, after a brief recovery in 2025, exports from West Africa resumed by -10.4% y/y in January-June 2026 to 78.2 million tons, from 87.3 million tons in January-June 2025.
Source: Banchero Costa
Banchero Costa added, “In terms of individual countries, the largest exporters in the region are Nigeria and Angola. Nigeria exported 28.3 million tons in January 2026, down -13.1% year-on-year. Angola exported 24.7 million tons in January-June 2026, down -3.3% year-on-year. The other major crude oil exporters in the region are Congo Brazzaville, 6.1 million tons in 2026.” January-June 2026 (-2.5% y/y), Cameroon 4.9 million tons (+3.1% y/y), Gabon 4.5 million tons (-18.4% y/y), Senegal 2.6 million tons (-10.2% y/y), Ghana 2.1 million tons (-21.5% y/y), Benin 2.0 million tons (+17.4% y/y), Côte d’Ivoire 1.3 million tons (-51.7% y/y), Guinea equivalent 0.9 million tons (-38.0% y/y). West Africa’s crude oil exports are almost evenly split between the two largest classes of vessels: 49% loaded on VLCCs in January 2026, with 2% on VLCCs West Africa tends to be very long with the majority of volumes heading to Asia and Europe, now neck-and-neck as the top destination. The European Union accounted for 25.5% of the volumes shipped from West Africa in the period from January to June 2026, slightly ahead of China with 25.0%. Exports from West Africa to China fell by -30.9% year-on-year in January-June 2026 to 19.6 million tons – the lowest level. The first half volume is record and well below the 36.3 million tons in January-June 2020. Shipments from West Africa to the EU fell by -16.1% year-on-year in January 2026 to 19.9 million tons, and another 14.6% of shipments were sent to the ASEAN region, 11.7% to India, and 2.6% to the USA.
Nikos Rousanoglou, Global Hellenic Shipping News
