Petrol imports fall 26% to 14.6 million litres daily in August — NMDPRA

Nigeria’s daily average petrol imports fell by 26% to 14.6 million litres in August 2026, from 19.7 million litres in July, according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

The figures were contained in the authority’s August 2026 Factsheet, which tracks petroleum product production, imports, domestic receipts, exports and inventories.

The decline coincided with increased domestic refining activity, particularly at the Dangote Refinery, while diesel imports fell even more sharply.

Petrol, diesel imports decline

NMDPRA data showed that average daily diesel imports dropped to 1.3 million litres in August, from 7.9 million litres in July.

• In contrast, LPG imports increased to 1.3 million litres per day, from 0.9 million litres in July.
• Average daily receipts of key petroleum products stood at 50.5 million litres of petrol, 14.5 million litres of diesel and 3.1 million litres of aviation fuel. LPG receipts averaged 4.3 kilotonnes per day.

Dangote Refinery records 105.21% utilisation

The Dangote Refinery recorded average capacity utilisation of 105.21% in August, producing 41.94 million litres of petrol, 18.01 million litres of diesel and 24.48 million litres of aviation fuel daily.

• For petrol, domestic receipts averaged 35.87 million litres per day, while exports stood at 9.73 million litres and closing stock reached 360.4 million litres.
• The refinery recorded daily diesel receipts of 12.37 million litres, exports of 8.75 million litres and closing stock of 137.2 million litres.
• Aviation fuel exports averaged 21.30 million litres per day, compared with domestic receipts of 3.07 million litres, while closing stock stood at 133.3 million litres at the end of August.

Port Harcourt, Warri, Kaduna refineries record no production

The Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries recorded no production during August, according to the NMDPRA factsheet.

Among the modular refineries, WalterSmith recorded average capacity utilisation of 64.77%, Edo Refinery 90.43%, Aradel Refinery 58.77% and OPAC 16.97%.

WalterSmith produced 0.28 million litres of diesel daily, while Edo and Aradel produced 0.08 million litres and 0.31 million litres, respectively. OPAC produced 0.11 million litres per day.

Petrol import bill rises sharply in Q2

The latest figures come amid significant changes in Nigeria’s petroleum import profile and domestic refining capacity.

• Nairametrics earlier reported that Nigeria’s crude oil production remained above 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) for the third consecutive month in July 2026, despite a decline from the previous month, based on OPEC data.
• Meanwhile, Nigeria’s petrol import bill surged by 989.4% quarter-on-quarter to N952.15 billion in Q2 2026, from N87.40 billion in Q1.
• The country’s petrol import bill had previously fallen to $10 billion in 2025, from $14.06 billion in 2024, as domestic refining expanded.

The August data indicate a further reduction in imported petrol volumes, while domestic refineries, particularly the Dangote Refinery, supplied a growing share of refined petroleum products to the market.