….Bans Trucks With 60,000 litres Capacity From Loading Products
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has reported that Dangote Refinery and newly reactivated public refineries in the country are still supplying less than 50% of the national petroleum products consumption requirement in the downstream market, despite their huge daily production capacity.
The authority’s Executive Director, Distribution System, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha, during a media briefing in Abuja, clarified that there was no law restricting the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) from importing fuel when desirable.
While assuring motorists and other fuel consumers that all imported petroleum products this year complied with the standard quality requirements, Ukoha expressed optimism that the local refineries would be able to produce 50% of the national 60 million barrels per day consumption requirement in February.
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The Director said: “So, just for clarity, what I am saying is that the contribution of local refining towards the sufficiency was less than 60 per cent in January and less than 50 percent in February 2025.
“The shortfall is sourced by way of importation even though none of the OMCs that owned refineries have imported this year PMS.”
He said this is despite the national consumption of the product reducing from an average of 66 million litres per day to 50m/d following the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Ukoha further clarified: “Let me speak a little bit about supply. All of us experienced a Yuletide free of petrol scarcity. And let me just reconfirm that from year to year, we saw an increase in the demand for PMS from 2021, 2022, up to 2023, just before the current administration came in. The daily PMS supply sufficiency was always in excess of 60 million per day.
“Averaging about 66 million a day for PMS. And following Mr President’s withdrawal of subsidy, the announcement of May 29, 2023, we immediately saw a steep decline in consumption. And between then and as we speak, we have continued to do plus or minus 50 million litres a day. Of these 50 million litres averaging for each day, less than 50 per cent of that is contributed by domestic refineries. And so the shortfall by the PIA is sourced by way of imports”, he added.
On products’ quality, the NMDPRA boss pointed out that the authority always insisted that all petroleum products met the specifications of the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, thereby not permitting the distribution of substandard products in the downstream market.
Ukoha also hinted that the NMDPRA had banned trucks carrying over 60,000 litres of hydrocarbon products from loading products from any of the depots with effect from March 1, 2025.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the NNPCL chief corporate communications officer, Olufemi Soneye, while reacting to a report on alleged importation of 200million litres, had corroborated the NMDPRA’s position that while NNPC Limited has not imported PMS in 2025, there was no law prohibiting the company from importing products when necessary.
He stated: “As a company primarily responsible for ensuring energy security in Nigeria, if there were any PMS supply insufficiency in the future, NNPC Limited has the right and responsibility to intervene by importing to bridge the gap.”
