Nigeria’s daily petrol consumption surged to 63.7 million litres per day (ml/d) in December 2025, far above official benchmarks, reflecting rising domestic demand and improved local supply.
This is according to data contained in the December 2025 Fact Sheet released by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The figures highlight mounting pressure on fuel supply, even as domestic refining—led by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery—records stronger output.
Nairametrics reports that Nigeria’s daily petrol consumption stood at an average of 52.9 million litres per day in November 2025.
What the data is saying
The NMDPRA data shows that petrol (PMS) consumption in December significantly exceeded the 2025 daily benchmark of 50ml/d, demonstrating sustained demand across the country.
PMS supply from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery improved markedly during the month, rising from 19.47ml/d in November 2025 to an average of 32.01ml/d in December 2025, despite an initial supply target of 50ml/d.
According to the regulator, the Dangote refinery achieved a maximum capacity utilisation of 71% during the period, reflecting strong operational performance.
“PMS Supply in December 2025 increased due to significant improvement in supply from DPRP,” the regulator stated.
In contrast, Nigeria’s state-owned refineries—Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna—recorded zero petrol production in December, as all three facilities remained shut down or under rehabilitation.
At the Port Harcourt refinery, the regulator said “No production activities as the refinery remained on shut down mode. However, evacuation of prior AGO produced while the refinery was operational before 24 May 2025 averaged 0.247 million litres/day.”
Diesel supply and consumption trends diverged during the month. Domestic diesel (AGO) supply declined to 17.9ml/d in December from 20.4ml/d in November, while daily diesel consumption increased to 16.4ml/d, up from 15.4ml/d in the previous month.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply recorded modest growth, rising to 5.2 metric tonnes per day (mt/d) in December from 5.0mt/d in November, signalling increased adoption of cleaner cooking fuel.
On modular refinery performance, average capacity utilisation stood at 63.24%, with average AGO supply of 0.051ml/d. The Edo Refinery recorded the highest utilisation at 85.43%, supplying about 0.052ml/d of AGO, while ARADEL Refinery operated at 53.89%, with an average AGO supply of 0.289ml/d.
Overall, total AGO supply from the three modular refineries averaged 0.392ml/d, alongside production of naphtha, heavy hydrocarbon kerosene (HHK), fuel oil, and marine diesel oil (MDO).
Why this matter
The December figures highlight the widening gap between Nigeria’s official fuel consumption benchmarks and actual demand.
For 2025, daily benchmarks were set at 50ml/d for PMS, 14ml/d for diesel, 3ml/d for aviation fuel (ATK), and 3,900mt/d for cooking gas.
However, actual daily truck-out figures for December exceeded these thresholds, with PMS at 63.7ml/d, diesel at 16.4ml/d, aviation fuel at 2.7ml/d, and cooking gas at 4,380mt/d.
What you should know
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has become Nigeria’s single most important domestic source of PMS, as government-owned refineries remain offline.
Nigeria continues to experience rising energy demand driven by population growth, economic activity, and fuel substitution dynamics.
Sustained improvements in local refining output are critical to easing supply pressure, managing price volatility, and strengthening energy security in the downstream petroleum sector.
During fuel subsidy era, analysts had stated that fuel consumption was exaggerated to support fraud.
After fuel subsidy removal, fuel usage crashed from over 60m litters a day to under 40m, and it was celebrated as fraud removed.
However on hindsight, the crash was more related to citizens adjusting to the sudden price jump at the time.
Now people have adjusted and fuel consumption has gone back up to the same as it was during the fuel subsidy era.