NMDPRA suspends issuance of petrol import licences as domestic production improves

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has suspended the issuance of new licences for the importation of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, citing improved domestic production capacity.

The development was disclosed in the authority’s February 2026 State of the Midstream and Downstream Fact Sheet, which indicated that no new import licences were issued during the month.

According to the report, the Dangote refinery supplied an average of 36.5 million litres of petrol daily to the domestic market in February, while imports contributed an average of three million litres per day, the lowest level recorded in a year.

The regulator said the total petrol supply during the period stood at 39.6 million litres per day, representing a drop of 25.4 million litres compared with the average daily supply of 64.9 million litres recorded in January.

Explaining the decision, the spokesperson of the NMDPRA, George Ene-Ita, said the authority suspended new import approvals because domestic production was currently sufficient to meet the country’s demand.

“At this moment, there is no need to import because local production is meeting supply. When there is a shortfall, we will issue licensing to buffer local production,” Ene-Ita said.

Meanwhile, the report showed that several state-owned refineries remained shut during the period. The Port Harcourt refinery was inactive in February, although evacuation of previously produced diesel averaged 392,000 litres daily, while the Kaduna refinery also remained closed with about 27,000 litres of diesel per day trucked to the domestic market. The Warri refinery recorded no evacuation activities during the month.

The authority also said three modular refineries — Waltersmith, Edo and Aradel — supplied an average of 368,000 litres of diesel daily, adding that the introduction of hydrocarbons at the Waltersmith facility was still ongoing. Data from the regulator further showed that while Nigeria’s petrol consumption benchmark stands at 50 million litres per day, supply averaged 56.9 million litres daily.