Nigeria’s petrol imports fell by more than 60 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 as local refinery supply increased significantly, according to data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA.
The report showed petrol imports dropped to 965.5 million litres between January and March this year, compared with 2.43 billion litres in the same period of 2025. Local refinery supply rose to 3.18 billion litres from nearly 2 billion litres recorded a year earlier.
The figures indicate that domestic refineries supplied more than 76 per cent of Nigeria’s petrol needs in the first quarter of 2026, up from 45 per cent in the corresponding period last year. February recorded the sharpest decline in imports, with volumes falling by almost 89 per cent year-on-year.
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Although the regulator did not directly mention the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, it remains the only refinery publicly known to be producing petrol commercially at scale in Nigeria during the period under review. The refinery had earlier pledged to supply 50 million litres of petrol daily from December 2025.
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