Sam Ikeotuonye


Lagos —

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, says Nigeria’s imports of the Premium Motor Spirit, PMS – more popularly known as petrol – dropped by 67 percent or 30 million litres from 44.6 million litres a day in August 2024 to 14.7 million on April 13 this year.

The Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Farouk Ahmed, disclosed this on Tuesday at the “Meet-the-Press” briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the State House in Abuja.

He attributed the drop in imports to increased local production of the product capacity, resulting from the gradual resumption of operations at the Port Harcourt Refining Company in late November 2024 and production from the modular refineries.

According to Ahmed, local petrol supply rose by 670 percent within the period under review.

He stated that after contributing nothing in August 2024, local refineries delivered 26.2 million litres of petrol per day in early April this year.

The local plants delivered 3.4 million litres in September 2024, the first month that saw a measurable output from local refineries, Ahmed further said.

“After contributing virtually nothing in August, local plants delivered 26.2 million litres per day in early April, a jump from the 3.4 million litres recorded in September, the first month with measurable output,” the NMDPRA boss stated.

He maintained that total petrol supply surpassed government’s projected daily consumption of 50 million litres twice – in November 2024, when 56 million litres were supplied, and in February 2025, when 52.3 million litres supply was achieved.

stating that