Nigeria imported crude oil worth $1.39bn in the first quarter of 2026, just as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery increasingly source feedstock from international markets despite the country’s status as Africa’s largest crude oil producer.
Data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Balance of Payments Highlights for the first quarter of 2026 showed that crude oil imports rose from $340m in the fourth quarter of 2025 to $1.39bn in Q1 2026, representing a 308.82 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase.
The development comes amid the rapid expansion of local refining capacity, particularly at the Dangote refinery, which has continued to increase production volumes and exports of refined petroleum products.
The refinery has also been supplementing domestic crude supplies with imported grades.
According to the report, crude oil imports accounted for about 81.8 per cent of the country’s total imports of crude oil, gas and refined petroleum products, which stood at $1.70bn during the review period.
