A recovering Libyan oil sector sent 595,000 tonnes of crude to Germany in January, up from 388,000 tonnes in December and fourth highest in Germany's oil imports, economic and foreign trade statistics office BAFA data showed on Wednesday.
The figure was down from 748,000 tonnes in January 2011. Fighting broke out in Libya in February between rebels and forces loyal to former leader Muammar Gaddafi, which damaged oil installations and disrupted exports.
Germany's January oil import bill at 5.0 billion euros was up 14.0 percent from a year earlier, BAFA data showed. Germany's average border oil prices in the month, at 633.71 euros a tonne was up 17.1 percent from January 2011.
Oil imports by volume fell 2.7 percent year on year to 7.9 million tonnes. Some 38 percent came from Russia, 26.2 percent from the British and Norwegian North Sea and 18.5 percent from OPEC members, among others.
Another noticeable factor was Syria, which is engulfed in violence, sent no oil for a second consecutive month and after just 7,000 tonnes in November. Syria ranked ninth among Germany's suppliers for the full year 2011.
BAFA gave the following details, among others, for the top 10 crude oil import sources (in '000 tonnes). There were 31 origins in total:
Jan '12 Jan '11
Russia 3,033 2,789
Britain 1,217 1,158
Norway 883 836
Libya 595 748
Nigeria 576 476
Kazakhstan 388 722
Egypt 294 89
Azerbaijan 233 382
Algeria 204 210
Tunisia 71 0
(Source: Reuters)
