Libya's oil sector sent 469,000 tonnes of crude to Germany in March, down from 779,000 tonnes in February but putting it fifth-highest in Germany's oil imports, economic and foreign trade statistics office BAFA data showed on
Monday. The figure was not dissimilar to 496,000 tonnes received in March 2011, shortly after fighting broke out between rebels and forces loyal to former leader Muammar Gaddafi, damaging oil installations and disrupting exports throughout 2011. In January-March taken together, Libya ranked fourth after Russia, Britain and Norway, after it had recaptured typical monthly export levels to Germany in January and February. Germany's total January-March oil import bill was 20 percent up from a year earlier at 15 billion euros ($19.67 billion), BAFA said. Germany's average border oil prices in the three months rose by 17.2 percent from Jan-March 2011 to 666.98 euros a tonne. Oil imports by volume rose 2.7 percent on a year earlier to 22.4 million tonnes in the same three months. Some 38.8 percent of oil imports in the year to date came from Russia, 25.7 percent from the British and Norwegian North Sea and 19.8 percent from OPEC members, among others. Another noticeable factor was Syria, which is engulfed in violence and has sent no oil for a fourth c onsecutive month. 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). It monitored 36 origins in total:
Jan/March '12 Jan/March '11 March '12
Russia 8,682 7,931 2,751
Britain 3,322 3,316 1,005
Norway 2,452 1,893 905
Libya 1,873 1,858 469
Nigeria 1,416 1,053 552
Kazakhstan 1,214 1,887 399
Azerbaijan 618 884 94
Algeria 563 741 259
Egypt 558 361 151
Saudi Arabi a 246 97 106
($1 = 0.7625 euros)
(Source: Reuters)
