Dangote Refinery, Others February Supply 50% of Nigeria’s Petrol Demand – NMDPRA
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority says Dangote and other local refineries petrol supply in February has only met 50 percent of national consumption demand.
This was made known on Wednesday in Abuja by the Executive Director, Distribution System, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA, Ogbugo Ukoha.
He claimed that the shortfall is being imported by Oil Marketing Companies licenced by the agency.
Dangote Refinery is however countering the narrative and had gone to court to seek an end to issuing import licence for petroleum products.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery insists that it has the capacity to meet Nigeria’s local petroleum products demands.
Both NMDPRA and NNPCL, however, insist that there is no law that prohibits importation of petroleum products.
“So, just for clarity, what I am saying is that the contribution of local refining towards sufficiency was less than 60 percent in January and less than 50 percent in February 2025.”
Ukoha added that, “the shortfall is sourced by way of importation. Even though none of the OMCs that owned refineries have imported this year PMS.”
On quality, he said the NMDPRA always insists that all petroleum products meet the specifications of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria and the Petroleum Industry Act.
According to him, the Authority does not permit the distribution of products that fall short of quality standards.
“You must meet those specifications; otherwise, we will not let those products be distributed,” he said.
Recall that a report claimed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, had imported over 200 million litres of petrol in February alone.
However, its spokesman, Femi Soneye, on Tuesday, said that while NNPC Limited has not imported PMS in 2025, “it is important to clarify that there is no law prohibiting NNPC Limited from importing when necessary.”
He added in the statement that “as a company primarily responsible for ensuring energy security in Nigeria, if there were any PMS supply insufficiency in the future, NNPC Limited has the right and responsibility to intervene by importing to bridge the gap.”
