KEY POINTS
- Nigeria spent N8.96 trillion on petrol imports in 2025, down 42 percent from 2024’s record N15.42 trillion.
- Imports still covered 62 percent of total fuel consumption, with domestic refineries supplying just 37.5 percent.
- Fourth-quarter import spending surged 174 percent to N3.54 trillion, the highest quarterly figure of the year.
Nigeria’s petrol import bill ran to N8.96 trillion in 2025, National Bureau of Statistics data shows, a result that cuts both ways: it marks a sharp drop from the record N15.42 trillion spent in 2024, but also confirms that Africa’s largest oil producer still imported nearly two-thirds of the fuel its people burned last year despite the Dangote Refinery’s growing output.
The Nigeria petrol import bill 2025 figure represents a 41.9 percent decline from the previous year but sits N1.45 trillion, or roughly 19.3 percent, above the N7.51 trillion recorded in 2023, the year the fuel subsidy ended. Total petrol consumption reached 18.97 billion litres across the year. Imports supplied 11.85 billion litres, covering 62.47 percent of demand, while domestic refineries contributed 7.54 billion litres, covering the remaining 37.53 percent.
Dangote processing significant imported crude
The quarterly breakdown tells its own story. Spending started at N1.76 trillion in the first quarter, jumped to N2.38 trillion in the second, fell sharply to N1.29 trillion in the third, then surged 174.4 percent to N3.54 trillion in the fourth, the highest single-quarter figure of the year. That final-quarter spike alone accounted for nearly 40 percent of the full-year Nigeria petrol import bill.
Energy consultant Kelvin Emmanuel argued that the Nigeria petrol import bill 2025 data reflects deeper structural problems than output figures alone suggest. He said the Dangote Refinery currently imports roughly 10 million of the 18 million barrels it processes monthly, making it a net importer of crude even as it reduces Nigeria’s dependence on imported finished fuel.
Emmanuel also challenged the government’s naira-for-crude initiative, saying its impact has been blunted either because NNPC’s crude is pre-sold through forward agreements or because commercial operators route feedstock through third parties at inflated commissions. He called on the government to establish a strategic petroleum reserve codified through an Act of Parliament to protect domestic refiners from supply volatility.
Nigeria petrol import sources and a persistent paradox
Nigeria sourced petrol from the Netherlands, the United States, Belgium, Brazil, and Togo across the year. In the fourth quarter, Brazilian imports reached N221.15 billion while the Netherlands alone supplied N1.22 trillion worth of product. Togo featured consistently as a regional supplier through the ECOWAS corridor.
The wider five-year picture underscores how entrenched the pattern has become. Nigeria spent N2.01 trillion on petrol imports in 2020, a figure that climbed to N4.56 trillion in 2021, N7.71 trillion in 2022, N7.51 trillion in 2023, and N15.42 trillion in 2024 before falling back in 2025. Analysts say that without a strategic petroleum reserve, tighter crude supply arrangements, and continued refinery output growth, import dependence will remain the defining feature of Nigeria’s downstream sector regardless of domestic refining investment.
