₦airaland Forum

Nigeria’s dependence on imported petrol persisted in 2025, with oil marketers spending N8.96tn on Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) imports between January and December, despite increased investments in domestic refining capacity.

An analysis of the latest foreign trade data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed that petrol, code-named “Motor spirit ordinary,” remained one of the most imported commodities throughout the year, reflecting ongoing supply gaps in the downstream sector.

The NBS said petrol import costs were N8.96tn in 2025, but represented a decline of N6.46tn or about 41.9 per cent from the N15.42tn recorded in 2024, but still stood N1.45tn or roughly 19.3 per cent higher than the N7.51tn posted in 2023 when fuel subsidy was eliminated by the current administration.

This latest development comes days after The PUNCH exclusively reported that Domestic refineries imported crude oil worth N5.734tn between January and December 2025, exposing a deepening supply paradox in the country’s oil sector and an obsession for imports.

The fuel import expenditure came at a time when expectations were high for a decline in reliance on foreign supply following significant investments in local refining.

This trend persisted despite the commencement of operations, steady ramp-up in production and distribution of petrol by domestic refineries, notably the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, alongside state-owned refineries and several modular facilities.

Data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority published recently revealed that total petrol consumption stood at 18.97 billion litres in 2025, with 11.85 billion litres, representing 62.47 per cent, supplied through imports.

While domestic refineries contributed about 7.54 billion litres, accounting for 37.53 per cent of total consumption.

But in the new NBS document, which focuses on the value of products, the data showed a fluctuating but sustained petrol import pattern, with expenditure rising by N0.62tn, or about 35.2 per cent, from N1.76tn in the first quarter to N2.38tn in the second quarter, before dropping sharply by N1.09tn, or roughly 45.8 per cent, to N1.29tn in the third quarter.

However, imports rebounded strongly in the fourth quarter, surging by N2.25tn, or about 174.4 per cent, to N3.54tn, the highest quarterly expenditure recorded in the year.

Overall, the fourth-quarter spike accounted for nearly 40 per cent of total annual imports, underscoring persistent supply pressures and seasonal demand fluctuations. The statistics agency didn’t provide a breakdown of the value imported monthly.

Breakdown of the figures showed that petrol was the second most imported product in the first quarter at N1.76tn, and also ranked as the second highest import from African countries, with N89.18bn largely sourced from Togo within the ECOWAS sub-region.

By the second quarter, petrol had risen to become Nigeria’s top imported product at N2.38tn, maintaining its dominance across African, West African, and ECOWAS trade corridors, where imports stood at N208.76bn.

However, the trend shifted in the third quarter, when import value dropped to N1.29tn, making petrol the third most imported product globally during the period. Notably, no imports were recorded from African or ECOWAS countries in that quarter, indicating a shift towards alternative international suppliers.


In the fourth quarter, petrol imports rebounded strongly to N3.54tn, reclaiming its position as the most imported commodity. Within Africa, it ranked as the second-highest import at N84.69bn, with Togo again featuring prominently among regional suppliers.

In the fourth quarter, petrol imports from Brazil were valued at N221.15bn, while the Netherlands emerged as one of Nigeria’s largest suppliers with shipments worth N1.22tn in the same period.

Overall, the product’s share of total trade reflected a fluctuating but rising trend, accounting for 11.42 per cent in the first quarter, increasing to 15.54 per cent in the second quarter, before dropping to 7.98 per cent in the third quarter and rebounding sharply to 20.52 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Further analysis showed that Nigeria sourced petrol from a diverse mix of countries, including the Netherlands, the United States, Belgium, Brazil, and Togo, highlighting the global nature of its fuel supply chain.

Despite the operational take-off of the Dangote Refinery and ongoing rehabilitation of state-owned refineries, import dependence remains deeply entrenched.

Over the past five years, Nigeria’s petrol import bill has steadily risen. In 2020, the country spent N2.01tn on fuel imports, more than doubling to N4.56tn in 2021.

By 2022, the figure further increased to N7.71tn before slightly declining to N7.51tn in 2023. However, in 2024, fuel import expenditure surged to an all-time high of N15.42tn, marking the largest petrol import bill in Nigeria’s history.

The figures highlight a structural imbalance between refining capacity and actual output, noting that while installed capacity has improved, feedstock constraints, logistics challenges, and market dynamics continue to limit performance.

Energy analysts warn that the continued reliance on imports, despite increased refining capacity, raises concerns about energy security, foreign exchange pressure, and the sustainability of the downstream market.

Commenting, the Managing Partner at Energy Consulting Practice, Kelvin Emmanuel, accused the Presidency of maintaining tight control over licensing decisions in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, in what he described as a violation of the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act.

Speaking in a telephone interview on Thursday, Emmanuel said, “The State House has refused to hand off its control in dictating to the authority who gets a licence or not, and has ignored calls consistently to comply with Sections 317, and 7 to 11 of the PIA.”

He further raised concerns over crude supply challenges facing the Dangote Refinery, noting that the facility was still heavily reliant on imports despite its scale.

“Dangote is currently importing about 10 million barrels out of the 18 million barrels he processes monthly. The one fortunate part of this crisis is that Lagos sits on the Atlantic Basin, so he can easily ship in crude from Houston or Brazil,” he said.

Emmanuel criticised the Federal Government’s much-publicised naira-for-crude initiative, arguing that structural issues within the oil market were undermining its effectiveness.

“The government keeps touting the naira-for-crude initiative, when in reality it’s either the NNPC is not giving him crude because most of it is locked in forwards that have been pre-sold, or commercial operators are routing their feedstock at extra commissions outside the fiscal oil price,” he stated.

He added that Nigeria must take deliberate steps to safeguard domestic refining by establishing a national buffer stock. “The Nigerian Government needs to develop a strategic petroleum reserve that is codified through an Act of Parliament, to serve domestic refiners,” Emmanuel said.

The sustained reliance on foreign petrol supply underscores the challenges facing Nigeria’s energy transition, as the country grapples with aligning its upstream resources with downstream capacity.

As Africa’s largest oil producer, the paradox of importing a majority of its refined fuel needs continues to define Nigeria’s petroleum sector, a trend that policymakers say must be urgently reversed to achieve true energy independence.

Source: https://punchng.com/nigeria-spends-n9tn-importing-petrol

So with all the noise Tinubu and his supporters made about the success of his subsidy removal and Dangote refinery, Nigeria is still importing petrol like subsidy was never removed and Dangote refinery is not even existing.

Now the funny and annoying part is that, Nigeria now spends more on importation of oil and oil products, Dangote spent about 3 billion dollars importing crude oil, Nigeria is spending 9 trillion importing fuel that Dangote would have refined and given Nigerians to use if they had a good arrangement between the FG and his refinery, are we going to call this situation a lose-lose for Nigeria as a country?

Just look at the kind of management Tinubu is doing and yet he has supporters cheering him because of tribal, religious or political affiliation.

Everyday new story, I don't really understand Tinubu and his reform ooooo.
Why all these news after renew hope reform.

Hope no subsidy ooooooo

So what is now the essence of dangote refinery if we will still be importing that much petrol?

You can never understand this stooooopidity. Dangote still imports crude to operate in full capacity whereas, 9ja imports fuel and there's a working Refinery in 9ja and there's no foreseeable plan by NNPCL to build a new Refinery.

NNPCL know perfectly well what they are doing

So sad and unfortunate

Gullible people, they have played you handicapped

Una want Tinubu's oversea Refinery to shut down.. Dey play😂

This is not possible.
All the money was stolen by leaders looters of Oshiomhole’s Assembly of Past Criminals, APC.

They are the worst rogues ever created, using propaganda lies to cover up their crimes and corruption.

Princecalm:
Jul 29, 2015

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has announced that the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries have been successfully re-streamed after a nine-month rehabilitation exercise conducted by its in-house engineers and technicians.

The corporation, in a statement, noted that both plants commenced preliminary production of petroleum products after successful test-runs, adding that while PHRC was ramping up its operation to about 60 per cent of its 210,000 barrels per day capacity, WRPC production was projected to hit 80 per cent of its installed 125,000bpd capacity.

The NNPC said the Port Harcourt refinery was projected to boost the nation’s local refining capacity with a product yield of five million litres of petrol per day, while Warri refinery would contribute 3.5 million litres of petrol.

Providing insight into the rehabilitation exercise, the NNPC noted that it had to adopt the phased rehabilitation strategy after the Original Refinery Builders, who were initially contacted for the project came up with unfavorable terms.

It said, “Though a decision was taken in 2011 to rehabilitate all the refineries using the ORB of each of the refineries, we were impelled to switch strategy after the ORBs declined participation and nominated some partners in their stead who came up with outrageously unfavorable terms.”

The NNPC stated that the nominated partners, as sole-bidders, came up with humongous price offers after two years of thorough and exhaustive scope of work definition and price negotiations.

It added that the proxies were also unwilling to provide post rehabilitation performance guarantees.

The corporation said, “The phased rehabilitation strategy which entailed phased and simultaneous rehabilitation of all the refineries using in-house and locally available resources in line with the spirit and letter of the Nigerian Content Law, also involved the use of Original Equipment Manufacturer representatives to effect major equipment overhaul and rehabilitation.”

The national oil firm said the phased rehabilitation programme, which started in October 2014 after the required funding stream was established, created a 70 per cent reduction in costs which helped largely in mitigating the financing challenges of refinery rehabilitation.

It observed that with the successful re-streaming of the PHRC and WRPC, attention has now moved to the 110,000 barrels per day Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company which was billed to come on stream soon.

http://www.punchng.com/news/pharcourt-warri-refineries-commence-preliminary-operations-nnpc/

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saintopus:
Dec 06, 2024
The PH Refinery ships its first export of petroleum products to Dubai.
The company is expected to load the cargo in the coming days onboard the Wonder Star MR1 ship, signalling the commencement of operations at the plant and the exportation of petroleum products.

The ship will load 15,000 metric tons of the product, which translates to about 13.6 million litres.

Although the volume coming from the NNPC into the global market is still small, the development has the potential to impact the Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) benchmarks in the future while changing the market realities for Atlantic Basin exporters into Nigeria and other regions.

The sulfur content of the export by NNPC stands at 0.26 per cent per wt and a 0.918 g/ml density at 15°C, according to Kpler, a data and analysis company.

The cargo was reportedly sold at an $8.50/t discount to the NWE 0.5 per cent benchmark on a Free on Board (FOB) basis.

Kpler reported that the development would help displace imports from traditional suppliers in Africa and Europe, as Nigeria’s falling clean product (CPP) imports are already decreasing, dragging imports into the wider West Africa region lower as well.

https://guardian.ng/energy/nnpc-begins-export-from-ph-refinery-as-dubai-firm-buys-first-cargo/

They used our crude oil as collateral to borrow money, hence Dangote has to source crude oil elsewhere.

Crude oil is the chief reason for this anomaly of a country called Nigeria. It should have broken down completely years ago.

tunjijones:
So what is now the essence of dangote refinery if we will still be importing that much petrol?

Was Dangote fully operational from January to December 2025?

We are really a petro economy ......
Petrol price goes up, every other thing follows

Brendaniel:
So with all the noise Tinubu and his supporters made about the success of his subsidy removal and Dangote refinery, Nigeria is still importing petrol like subsidy was never removed and Dangote refinery is not even existing.

Now the funny and annoying part is that, Nigeria now spends more on importation of oil and oil products, Dangote spent about 3 billion dollars importing crude oil, Nigeria is spending 9 trillion importing fuel that Dangote would have refined and given Nigerians to use if they had a good arrangement between the FG and his refinery, are we going to call this situation a lose-lose for Nigeria as a country?

Just look at the kind of management Tinubu is doing and yet he has supporters cheering him because of tribal, religious or political affiliation.

God and have a sincere knowledge seeking conversation with non partisan pundits among your kinsmen people like NOI or Soludo.

America has one of the largest crude oil deposit in the whole world and one of the largest oil refinery and at the same timr of thr largest oil importers.

This is a free market,the fact that a country is producing something doesnt mean Whoever wants to import cant import.Its a free market,the consumer go for whichever they like and the government also make money from importation.

Basic123:
God and have a sincere knowledge seeking conversation with non partisan pundits among your kinsmen people like NOI or Soludo.

How does that change the situation of the country now?

UzorIyke:
Everyday new story, I don't really understand Tinubu and his reform ooooo.
Why all these news after renew hope reform.

which hope?? With all the hardship he has caused

When you vote for fools , you get foolishness

adenigga:
Source: https://punchng.com/nigeria-spends-n9tn-importing-petrol

SO for those of you shouting[b] THEY HAVE REMOVED SUBSIDY,[/b]Una eyes don open, How can you import petrol from those listed countries without subsidizing it?

As result of all the empty promises of I'll do all these and that within the shortest possible period. No fuel no energy, everything is at the rooftop. Having wasted so much money on fake turnaround maintenance with nothing to show.

Wetin we do God for this country?


A real wonder, how APC converted a God given wealth to a source of extreme poverty
to its citizens..

In 2015, all our refineries were working,
though at reduced capacity, therefore
PDP government was importing a little
quantity to augment our own production,
with a budget of about 200bn for subsidy payment.

2 years into APC, all our refineries stopped
working, while billions of dollars💲💵💲were budgeted and spent on refurbishment, all
to no avail as APC goons like Malami, Mele Kyari, Aisha, Accountant general, Emeflie and
others became stupendously rich..


It's just unimaginable😕😕

Brendaniel:
So with all the noise Tinubu and his supporters made about the success of his subsidy removal and Dangote refinery, Nigeria is still importing petrol like subsidy was never removed and Dangote refinery is not even existing.

Now the funny and annoying part is that, Nigeria now spends more on importation of oil and oil products, Dangote spent about 3 billion dollars importing crude oil, Nigeria is spending 9 trillion importing fuel that Dangote would have refined and given Nigerians to use if they had a good arrangement between the FG and his refinery, are we going to call this situation a lose-lose for Nigeria as a country?

Just look at the kind of management Tinubu is doing and yet he has supporters cheering him because of tribal, religious or political affiliation.

Do you even understand what subsidy is all about? Don't confuse subsidy with Petroleum supply, please!

Penny Wise Pound Foolish, Tinubu APC Led Government is The Most Notorious, Terrible And Disastrous Government to Nigerians Ever

princeade86:
Hope no subsidy ooooooo

Ofcos nah the subsidy be the koko,I have said it b4 you cant import without subsidy .Imagine importing petrol from the USA without subsidy

Local refining accounted for 37.53%? This is terribly poor and unacceptable considering that we have Dangote refinery. BUA is also building his.

The government should give one decade ultimatum to the importers to come together and build a local refinery. They should stop wasting Nigeria's FX on products that Nigeria has the capacity to refine locally.

NewHe:
Do you even understand what subsidy is all about? Don't confuse subsidy with Petroleum supply, please!

Can you seperate the two items ?

Another sponsored propaganda

tunjijones:
So what is now the essence of dangote refinery if we will still be importing that much petrol?

Import was not the problem, the denial of subsidy payments and the fraud around it is the problem

U09ce:
Another sponsored propaganda

nah so,even though this comes from statisitc available to you and to all Nigerians in a government webssite that you can quickly check, but no, as a lazzzzy yut U wont check,

erico2k2:
Import was not the problem, the denial of subsidy payments and the fraud around it is the problem

Importation is a problem. They are wasting our FX on a product we can produce and refine locally.

Funny.. So this was the gain from the war against subsidy?
We still don’t have any functional refinery in the country.

erico2k2:
Import was not the problem, the denial of subsidy payments and the fraud around it is the problem

... I just saw this headline:
Tinubu Courageous To Remove Fuel Subsidy - Governor Alex Otti