Fuel imports into Nigeria fell to 106,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July 2023, from the 205,200 barrels per day recorded in May 2023.
This is according to a report from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
The fall in the amount of fuel imported into the country signals the reduced demand for the commodity in the country following the removal of fuel subsidies in May 2023.
Reduced Nigerian demand is affecting Europeans
According to the S&P report, reduced fuel demand in Nigeria is impacting Europeans and not in a good way. However, they have found a way around the situation.
A part of the report stated:
- “The subsidy removal has shaken up longstanding arbitrage for European refiners. While Nigerian demand has diminished, other destinations have picked up the slack.
- “The US Atlantic Coast made up 28% of total gasoline exported from the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp region in July amid persistently low stocks, according to Kpler shipping data, increasing its share from the low teens almost in tandem with the shrinking Nigerian demand.
- “As a result, European refiners have been unfazed by sinking demand in West Africa. European traders already faced being crowded out by Russian refined products that have flooded into Africa – including Nigeria – since the onset of the war in Ukraine saw European countries boycott Russian oil products. Yet even Russian exports to Nigeria have fallen sharply since the fuel subsidy was scrapped.”
2023 local demand stats
Note that in July 2023, Nairametrics reported that data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) revealed that fuel consumption in Nigeria dropped to 46.38 million litres per day following the removal of the subsidy.
The Authority chief executive, Farouk Ahmed said that the figure represented a 35% reduction when compared with the 65 million litres per day, prior to subsidy removal.
During that period, he provided the following monthly fuel consumption data in 2023:
- January: 62 million litres per day
- February: 62 million litres per day
- March: 71.4 million litres per day
- April: 67.7 million litres per day
- May: 66.6 million litres per day
- June: 49.5 million litres per day
- July: 46.3 million litres per day
What you should know
Nigeria plans a compressed natural gas (CNG) revolution as an alternative to fuel as pump prices have skyrocketed since the removal of fuel subsidies in the country, creating affordability problems for the general population. The gas revolution will become active in 2024 at the earliest.
Things will eventually get better