By Nigeria has made significant strides in reducing its reliance on imported petrol, with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) announcing a remarkable 67 percent drop in daily Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) imports between August 2024 and April 2025. This translates to a substantial decrease of 30 million litres in daily imports.
The Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, revealed this encouraging development during a “Meet-the-Press” briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the State House in Abuja on Tuesday. He stated that daily PMS imports have plummeted from 44.6 million litres in August 2024 to just 14.7 million litres by mid-April 2025.
Ahmed attributed this dramatic decline to a notable increase in Nigeria’s local refining capacity. This boost in domestic production is primarily due to the gradual resumption of operations at the Port Harcourt Refining Company in late November 2024, coupled with the increasing output from the country’s modular refineries.
“After contributing virtually nothing in August, local plants delivered 26.2 million litres per day in early April, a significant jump from the 3.4 million litres recorded in September, the first month with measurable output,” Ahmed explained, highlighting the rapid growth in domestic supply. He emphasized that within the eight-month period, Nigeria’s domestic PMS supply had surged by an impressive 670 percent, directly leading to the sharp reduction in the need for imports.
The NMDPRA boss, however, pointed out that the total daily PMS supply only exceeded the government’s estimated consumption target of 50 million litres on two occasions: in November 2024, with 56 million litres, and in February 2025, with 52.3 million litres. He also noted a slight dip in supply to 51.5 million litres in March, followed by a further decrease to 40.9 million litres in the first half of April.
Looking ahead, Ahmed assured that the NMDPRA would continue to exercise caution in granting import licenses, strictly based on identified supply gaps. He reiterated that the Authority’s primary focus remains on aggressively boosting Nigeria’s domestic refining capacity to achieve greater energy security and self-sufficiency in the petroleum sector.
