Dangote’s Petrol Supply Falls 21% to 25.8m Litres/day as Imports Rise 9%

• PMS consumption slumps 25% to 35.7m litres daily 

• Crude receipts by domestic refineries drop 8% to 585,000 bpd

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The supply of petrol from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery fell by 21 per cent in July 2026, while imports increased by 9 per cent, fresh data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) showed yesterday.

The development came despite an improvement in petrol stock sufficiency during the month, with available reserves rising to 22.4 days from 19.7 days in June, even as the country remained below the regulatory minimum fuel sufficiency threshold of 30 days.

According to the NMDPRA’s July 2026 Midstream and Downstream Statistics, average daily petrol receipts fell from 50.6 million litres in June to 45.5 million litres in July, representing a 10 per cent month-on-month decline.

The contraction was driven principally by domestic supply undertaken by the Dangote Refinery, which dropped from 32.5 million litres per day to 25.8 million litres per day, a 21 per cent reduction. At the same time, imports rose from 18.1 million litres per day to 19.7 million litres per day, representing a 9 per cent increase.

The figures underlined a renewed increase in Nigeria’s reliance on imported petrol, following months in which domestic refining had increasingly displaced import as the debate over whether to end fuel importation altogether or create some form of competition for the Dangote facility rages.

However, the July figures also showed the significance of the Dangote refinery to the domestic market. The refinery recorded average capacity utilisation of 71.09 per cent during the month. It produced 25.9 million litres of petrol per day and supplied 25.8 million litres daily to the domestic market.

The refinery also produced 19.1 million litres per day of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) or diesel and 15.6 million litres per day of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK). Its domestic receipts stood at 15.7 million litres per day for AGO and 1.9 million litres per day for ATK.

But during the same period, exports amounted to 11 million litres per day of AGO and 11.6 million litres per day of ATK or kerosene. Its closing stock at the end of July stood at 446.1 million litres for PMS, 162.3 million litres for AGO and 217.4 million litres for ATK.

The month-on-month shift in petrol supply was particularly notable against the longer-term trend. In July 2025, domestic refineries supplied an average 16.5 million litres of PMS daily, while imports accounted for 36.1 million litres. By July 2026, domestic supply had risen 56 per cent year-on-year to 25.8 million litres per day, while imports had fallen 45 per cent to 19.7 million litres per day.

Thus, although imports increased between June and July 2026, they remained substantially below their level a year earlier. The July 2026 total PMS supply of 45.5 million litres per day was also 13 per cent below the 52.6 million litres recorded in July 2025.

In the same vein, the weaker petrol supply coincided with an even sharper fall in recorded consumption. PMS consumption dropped from 47.4 million litres per day in June to 35.7 million litres per day in July, representing a 25 per cent decline. NMDPRA said consumption data are based on volumes trucked out into the domestic market.

Despite the lower supply, the improvement in stock sufficiency suggestee that the decline in domestic withdrawals helped ease pressure on available petrol inventories. PMS stock sufficiency increased by about 14 per cent from 19.7 days in June to 22.4 days in July.

However, the figure remained below the 30-day minimum threshold, indicating that the improvement in inventories did not yet translate into a fully comfortable national supply position. The data also revealed significant movements in other petroleum products.

AGO supply jumped 46 per cent month-on-month from 16.2 million litres per day in June to 23.6 million litres per day in July. Domestic AGO supply, however, declined 3 per cent from 16.2 million litres to 15.7 million litres per day, meaning the increase in overall supply was driven by the resumption of imports, which reached 7.9 million litres per day in July from zero in June.

AGO consumption fell 8 per cent from 16 million litres to 14.7 million litres per day, while diesel stock sufficiency rose 25 per cent from 37.1 days to 46.5 days.

Also, LPG supply increased 4 per cent from 5.1 kilotonnes per day to 5.3 kilotonnes per day. Domestic LPG supply rose 22 per cent from 3.6 kilotonnes to 4.4 kilotonnes per day, more than offsetting a 40 per cent decline in imports from 1.5 kilotonnes to 0.9 kilotonnes per day.

In contrast, aviation fuel supply weakened during the period under consideration. ATK receipts declined 24 per cent from 2.5 million litres per day to 1.9 million litres per day, while consumption fell 41 per cent from 2.9 million litres to 1.7 million litres per day.

Crude oil receipts by domestic refineries also fell 8 per cent, from 0.632 million barrels per day in June to 0.585 million barrels per day in July. Besides, domestic gas supply declined 8 per cent from 5.116 billion standard cubic feet per day to 4.723 billion cubic feet per day.