Oil marketers in the country spent an estimated N6 trillion on the importation of petroleum products, particularly petrol and diesel over a five-month period.
This is in spite improved domestic refining capacity in Nigeria. The Nigerian Mid-stream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) disclosed recently that Nigeria currently has a combined domestic refining capacity of 985,000 barrels per day, a figure enough to meet daily consumption of 50 million litres per day.
The marketers, however, imported 6.38 billion litres of petrol and diesel in five months, putting pressure on scare foreign exchange.
A newspaper advertorial which gave details of tanker vessels’ movement into Nigerian ports showed that fuel importers brought in over 5.01 billion litres of petrol and 1.37 billion litres of diesel between October 2024 and November 2025.
With an average price of N900 per litre, importers may have spent N4.51tn on PMS import and N1.51tn on diesel, using an average price of N1,100/litre. This indicates a cumulative amount of N6.02 trillion.
The six-page advertorial also showed that the imported products arrived through four seaports, with the Apapa and Tin Can seaports in Lagos receiving the highest amount of 3.86 billion litres of fuel, followed by Port-Harcourt port receiving the second highest of 5.63 billion fuel. 1.39 billion litres of fuel berthed at the Calabar port, while the Warri received the lowest import of 389.52 million litres of fuel.
The document showed that apart from the NNPC, marketers that imported products during the period BOVAS, Eternal Oil, AA Rano, Fatgbems, Matrix Energy, Ibeto, Swift, Raj, T-Time, Wosbab Energy, NorthWest, Sobaz, TS Logistics, Shorelink, Stockgap, MEJ, Nepal, Rainoil, and AYM Shafa, among others.
Last month, the NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, said the company hadn’t imported a single litre of fuel in 2025 and has depended on local sources to supply its customers.
Marketers of petroleum products have, however, kicked against the importation of petroleum products into Nigeria, especially as it impacts the nation’s foreign exchange.
National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, wondered why some marketers were still bringing in products from outside the country, despite an agreement to promote local content.
He said anyone importing fuel now could not have sourced forex from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He said stakeholders are now focused on growing the Dangote refinery, Port Harcourt refinery, and other local refineries in Nigeria, adding that PETROAN is not in support of importation when there is enough refining capacity.
Similarly, the spokesperson of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, said IPMAN members are not the ones importing fuel into Nigeria as they now source their products locally to promote local investments and create jobs.
However, Executive Secretary of the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria, Clement Isong, stated that importation promotes competition, helping drive down the price of PMS.
