Petrol imports surge as Dangote, marketers deepen dispute

Nigeria spent ₦952.15bn on imported Premium Motor Spirit in the second quarter of 2026 despite rising domestic refinery output and mounting pressure on the Federal Government to restrict fuel imports.

An analysis of the National Bureau of Statistics’ Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics report for Q2 2026 showed that the petrol import bill rose nearly 11-fold from ₦87.40bn in the first quarter.

The increase of ₦864.75bn represented a 989.4% surge between the 2 quarters, making ordinary motor spirit Nigeria’s biggest imported commodity during the period.

Petrol accounted for 6.60% of the country’s total imports of ₦14.42tn, ranking ahead of crude petroleum, durum wheat, used diesel vehicles and motorcycles imported in completely knocked-down form.

Despite the sharp quarterly increase, the amount was considerably lower than the ₦2.83tn spent on petrol imports in Q2 2025. This represented a year-on-year decline of about ₦1.88tn, or 66.4%.

The figures indicate that Nigeria’s dependence on foreign petrol has fallen substantially since 2025 but rebounded strongly between April and June after imports dropped to ₦87.40bn in the preceding quarter.

The resurgence comes amid an escalating disagreement between the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and petroleum marketers over the continued importation of refined products.

The refinery has warned that imported petrol is displacing locally refined products and forcing it to export excess stocks despite having sufficient capacity to meet domestic demand.

According to Dangote refinery, imported PMS accounted for about 43% of petrol supplied to the Nigerian market in July. It argued that the continued issuance of import licences made demand and inventory planning difficult.

“As a responsible energy provider, we have always endeavoured to keep adequate reserves to satisfy local demand at all times,” the refinery said.

It added that maintaining excess inventory had become commercially unsustainable because it could not predict how much imported petrol would enter the country.

The refinery was also reportedly considering suspending petrol sales to major marketers that continued to import the product. Sources said the proposal followed concerns that some marketers were allegedly mixing imported petrol with products purchased from Dangote before distribution.

Dangote also questioned whether Nigeria had sufficient independent laboratory and quality-control infrastructure to verify the specifications of all imported petroleum products.

Petroleum marketers rejected the allegations and challenged the refinery to produce evidence that imported petrol was below the required quality standards. They also described the reported threat to stop supplying importers as an attempt to restrict competition.

Import value rises as volume falls

A comparison of NBS trade figures and data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority suggests that the surge in import value was not accompanied by a corresponding increase in volume.

Imported petrol averaged 11.23m litres per day in Q1 but declined by 17.8% to 9.23m litres per day in Q2. However, monthly imports rose sharply within the second quarter, from 3.7m litres per day in April to 18.1m litres per day in June.

The contrast between the lower quarterly volume and higher import bill suggests that elevated international prices, shipment timing, import composition and trade valuation may have contributed to the increase.

The quarter coincided with the US-Iran war, which disrupted global energy markets and raised the prices of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

Domestic refinery supply moved in the opposite direction, increasing by 10.6% from an average of 34.57m litres per day in Q1 to 38.23m litres per day in Q2.

Consequently, domestic refineries’ share of petrol supply rose from about 75.5% to 80.5%, while imports declined from 24.5% to 19.5%.

Imported petrol becomes more expensive:

The latest energy bulletin from the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria showed that imported petrol was more expensive than Dangote refinery’s product.

Dangote’s gantry price stood at ₦1,265 per litre, while the spot import-parity price was ₦1,310.64 per litre under the ASPM benchmark and ₦1,309.63 under the NPSC-NOJ benchmark.

This made imported petrol between ₦44.63 and ₦45.64 per litre more expensive, even after Dangote raised its gantry price by ₦100 from ₦1,165 per litre. The refinery’s coastal price stood at ₦1,245 per litre.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria consequently urged the Federal Government to review the continued issuance of import licences.

IPMAN’s National Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Ukadike, said the licences were expected to promote competition and moderate domestic prices but had instead resulted in imported products being sold at higher prices.

“We were shocked that the licences issued to depot owners to import petroleum products are resulting in prices far higher than what Dangote has been selling to us,” Ukadike said.

The association argued that continued imports were increasing pressure on the naira, worsening price instability and weakening the competitiveness of domestic refineries.

Nigeria exports ₦546bn petrol

While importing ₦952.15bn worth of petrol, Nigeria also exported PMS valued at ₦546.02bn during the quarter.

Petrol exports increased by ₦93.54bn, or 20.67%, from ₦452.48bn in Q1 and accounted for 2.02% of Nigeria’s total exports of ₦27.02tn.

African markets received ₦416.78bn worth of the product, representing 76.3% of Nigeria’s total petrol exports. West African countries alone purchased ₦376.46bn, accounting for nearly 69% of the total.

Dangote Group President Aliko Dangote recently said Nigeria had become a net exporter of refined petroleum products, disclosing that the refinery exported about 1m tonnes of petrol within 50 days.

However, NBS figures showed that Nigeria remained a net petrol importer in value terms during Q2. The ₦952.15bn import bill exceeded petrol export earnings of ₦546.02bn by ₦406.13bn.