Crude imports shrink as Dangote, others get 18m barrels locally

Nigeria’s crude oil imports for domestic refining dropped sharply in April 2026, as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other local plants received approximately 18 million barrels of crude entirely from domestic sources, according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.

The NMDPRA Fact Sheet for April 2026 shows that out of the total 18.37 million barrels of crude supplied to domestic refineries for the month, 17.96 million barrels came from local sources, while only 410,000 were imported.

This represents a massive reduction in import dependence compared to previous months. For context, imports stood at 9.43 million barrels in March and 4.25 million barrels in February.

Earlier, the Dangote refinery had complained of crude shortage, saying it was getting just five cargoes instead of 15 cargoes.

However, the latest figures show a significant improvement in domestic crude supply to local refineries, even though pricing remains a major bone of contention between oil producers and refiners.

According to the NMDPRA report, on a daily basis, domestic refineries received an average of 612,000 barrels per day in April, with local crude accounting for 599,000 bpd and imports shrinking to a negligible 13,700 bpd.

The Dangote refinery, which received the lion’s share of the crude supplied, operated at an average capacity utilisation of 99.12 per cent, achieving 100 per cent utilisation on most days in April.

With this reliable local crude supply, the refinery produced 53.6 million litres per day of petrol, 23.6 million litres per day of diesel and 22.9 million litres per day of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (jet fuel).

Of the PMS produced, 40.7 million litres per day were supplied to the domestic market, while 17.1 million litres per day were exported. Similar export volumes were recorded for diesel (17.8 ML/D) and jet fuel (20.5 ML/D).

Stakeholders believed that the improved local crude supply, especially under the naira-for-crude deal, and high refinery performance helped push the total PMS daily supply to 44.4 million litres per day in April, up from 40.1 million daily in March. Domestic PMS supply rose to 40.7 ML/D while imports fell to just 3.7 ML/D.

Daily PMS consumption (volumes trucked out) stood at 51.1 ML/D, slightly above the 2026 benchmark of 50 ML/D. National fuel sufficiency averaged 18 days for PMS and 39 days for diesel.

Three operational modular refineries – WalterSmith, Edo Refinery, and Aradel – recorded varying capacity utilisation rates and collectively supplied an average of 0.559 ML/D of diesel to the domestic market.

The regulatory authority described the development as a strong indicator of Nigeria’s growing energy self-sufficiency.

However, despite the sharp drop in crude imports and robust performance by the Dangote Refinery, pump prices of petrol remained high because of the Middle East crisis. In Maiduguri, the maximum actual pump price hit N1,413 per litre, the highest in the country. Average actual prices ranged from N1,271.50 in Lagos to N1,371.50 in Maiduguri.

The continued shutdown of the three state-owned refineries remains a major gap in the country’s refining capacity. Retailers said full rehabilitation of these facilities, alongside consistent crude supply to Dangote and modular plants, will be key to further stabilising prices and deepening domestic supply.