Petrol imports drop by 67% as local production rises — NMDPRA
By Kunle Sanni
Nigeria’s petrol imports have plunged by 67% over the past eight months, dropping from 44.6 million litres per day in August 2024 to just 14.7 million litres as of April 13, 2025.
This is according to the latest supply data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, disclosed the figures on Tuesday while addressing State House correspondents at the sixth edition of the Presidential Communications Team’s Meet-the-Press briefing, held at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.
Ahmed attributed the sharp decline in imports to a significant boost in local production.
According to him, domestic supply rose by 670% within the same period—from 3.4 million litres per day in September 2024 to 26.2 million litres per day in early April 2025.
He credited the increase to the phased restart of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in November 2024, as well as additional output from modular refineries across the country.
Despite the improvements, Ahmed noted that combined petrol supply has only surpassed the government’s 50 million litres per day consumption benchmark twice since August—first in November (56 million litres) and again in February (52.3 million litres).
In March, supply slightly dipped below the target at 51.5 million litres per day and has remained below that mark in April, averaging 40.9 million litres so far.
