Despite a sharp resurgence in petrol imports, domestic refineries, led by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, emerged as Nigeria’s largest source of petrol supply in the first seven months of 2026, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the country’s total Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) supply, while imports fell sharply compared with the corresponding period of 2025.
This comes amid increasing dependence on imported petrol in June and July after the authority issued import licences and supplies from domestic refineries dropped sharply, forcing a bigger contribution from imports despite the country’s expanding refining capacity.
An analysis of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority’s monthly fact sheets by The PUNCH on Wednesday showed that domestic refineries supplied approximately 7.41 billion litres of petrol between January and July 2026, compared with about 4.27 billion litres in the corresponding period of 2025.
The figure represents an increase of approximately 3.14 billion litres, or 73.5 per cent, within one year. Petrol imports, however, fell from approximately 6.58 billion litres between January and July 2025 to about 2.48 billion litres in the corresponding period of 2026, representing a decline of about 4.10 billion litres, or 62.3 per cent.
