Nigeria Wastes N1tn On Fuel Imports In 6 Months Amid Dangote-Importers Feud

Nigeria spent N952.15bn on imported Premium Motor Spirit in the second quarter of 2026, despite growing domestic refining capacity and an escalating dispute between the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and fuel importers over the continued inflow of foreign petrol, according to the PUNCH, ABNTV reports.

An analysis of the National Bureau of Statistics’ Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics report for Q2 2026, published on Monday, showed that petrol imports rose almost 11-fold from N87.40bn in the first three months of the year.

The increase means the country’s PMS import bill jumped by N864.75bn, or 989.4 per cent, between the first and second quarters of 2026.

Put differently, Nigeria spent about 10.9 times more on imported petrol between April and June than it did between January and March.

The NBS ranked “Motor Spirit Ordinary” as Nigeria’s biggest imported commodity in Q2, ahead of crude petroleum, durum wheat, used diesel or semi-diesel vehicles and motorcycles.

“The most imported commodities during the quarter were Motor Spirit Ordinary, petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (crude), durum wheat, used vehicles with diesel or semi-diesel engines and Motorcycles and cycles fitted with auxiliary motor, petrol fuel, capacity >50<250cc, CKD,” the report read.

At N952.15bn, PMS accounted for 6.60 per cent of the country’s N14.42tn total import bill during the quarter.

However, despite the sharp quarterly increase, petrol imports remained significantly lower than the level recorded a year earlier.

The country imported N2.83tn worth of PMS in Q2 2025, indicating that the N952.15bn recorded in Q2 2026 represented a decline of N1.88tn, or about 66.4 per cent, year-on-year.

The figures indicate that while dependence on foreign petrol has fallen substantially compared with 2025, imports rebounded strongly in the second quarter after dropping to N87.40bn in Q1.

The resurgence in petrol imports comes amid a running disagreement between the Dangote refinery and petroleum marketers over the continued importation of refined products despite increased domestic refining capacity.

Earlier, The PUNCH reported that the Dangote refinery was considering stopping the sale of petrol to major marketers that continue to import petrol into Nigeria, amid concerns over product quality and the blending of imported fuel with products supplied by the refinery.

The proposed measure could take effect soon, subject to further consultations and any last-minute intervention, according to sources familiar with the situation. The immediate concern was that some marketers were allegedly blending imported PMS with petrol purchased from the Dangote refinery before distributing the resulting product to the market.

The refinery is concerned that such practices could make it difficult to distinguish between products supplied directly by Dangote and products subsequently blended or handled by third parties.

The refinery also raised concerns about what it called a lack of a standard laboratory and adequate quality-control infrastructure for imported petroleum products, particularly the capacity to independently verify and certify the specifications of products entering the Nigerian market.

The latest development comes barely days after the Dangote refinery warned that rising petrol imports were forcing it to export excess stocks despite having sufficient capacity to meet Nigeria’s domestic demand.

The refinery said imported PMS accounted for approximately 43 per cent of fuel supplied into the Nigerian market in July, saying the continued issuance of petrol import licences had created uncertainty over domestic demand and made production and inventory planning increasingly difficult.

Dangote said it had consistently maintained sufficient inventory and reserved product volumes to guarantee steady supply to the Nigerian market but argued that keeping large stocks indefinitely was becoming commercially unsustainable when it could not determine how much imported petrol would enter the country.

“As a responsible energy provider, we have always endeavoured to keep adequate reserves to satisfy local demand at all times. However, in an environment where significant volumes of imported PMS continue to enter the market through licences issued by the regulator, and where there is limited visibility on future import volumes, it becomes commercially unsustainable to continue holding excess inventory indefinitely,” the refinery said.

The refinery said the surplus petrol that could not be absorbed by the domestic market would consequently have to be exported to regional and international markets.

However, importers and petroleum marketers recently kicked against the reported plan by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals to stop selling petrol to marketers who import petrol, describing the move as an attempt to block imports.