Despite being Africa’s largest crude oil producer, Nigeria imported crude oil worth N1.19tn in the first quarter of 2025 due to poor domestic supply to local refineries, The PUNCH reports.
The National Bureau of Statistics disclosed this in its latest Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics report for Q1 2025, which showed that the imported crude, classified as “Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude,” emerged as Nigeria’s third most imported product within the period under review.
The product accounted for 7.7 per cent of total imports, trailing only gas oil and motor spirit ordinary, which were valued at N1.83tn and N1.76tn, respectively.
Further analysis of the NBS data revealed that the United States was the dominant source of the crude oil imported by Nigerian refineries, supplying N726.84bn worth of the product.
This figure represents approximately 61 per cent of the total value of crude oil imports into the country in the quarter. Angola and Algeria followed with N223.58bn and N122.37bn, respectively.
Together, these three countries accounted for most of Nigeria’s crude imports during the period, signalling that local refineries relied significantly on foreign-sourced feedstock due to the lack of a sufficient domestic supply.
Local refineries, including modular operations and large-scale facilities like the Dangote Refinery, are being compelled to turn to international markets for crude supply as a more consistent and commercially viable option.
Although the NBS report did not name specific refineries, the pattern reflects the broader systemic failure in aligning domestic crude production with local refining demand.
Nigeria’s continued dependence on imported petroleum products remains a significant concern, with refined and unrefined petroleum dominating the country’s import bill.
In Q1 2025 alone, gas oil, motor spirit, and crude oil imports amounted to more than N4.78tn, representing over 30 per cent of total imports for the quarter.
Overall, Nigeria’s total imports stood at N15.43tn in Q1 2025, an increase of 4.59 per cent compared to the same period in 2024, but a decline of 7.02 per cent from Q4 2024. Mineral fuels topped the list of imported items with a combined value of N4.97tn, representing 32.23 per cent of total imports.
The United States also ranked as Nigeria’s third-largest import partner, with total trade valued at N1.42tn in the quarter. Crude oil shipments alone constituted more than half of this figure.
The NBS report read, “China remains Nigeria’s highest trading partner on the import side in the first quarter of 2025, followed by India, the United States of America, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates.
“The most traded commodities imported during the quarter were Gas oil, Motor spirit ordinary, Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude, Cane sugar meant for sugar refinery, and Durum wheat (Not in seeds).”
The PUNCH earlier reported that access to crude oil by domestic refiners, including modular refineries, remained at a relatively zero level despite the rise in Nigeria’s oil output to over 1.4 million barrels per day.
Earlier this year, owners of refineries called on the Federal Government to ensure that crude oil producers prioritised crude supply to domestic refiners before exporting the commodity.
The issue of poor domestic crude supply has resulted in significant challenges for local refineries, which are unable to operate at full capacity, limiting their potential contribution to the energy sector.
This was confirmed by the Crude Oil Refinery-owners Association of Nigeria, which noted that refineries turn to imports for survival and increased production capacity. The CORAN Publicity secretary, Eche Idoko, stated in an interview that domestic refiners within the supply chain have been marginalised.
He confirmed that for several months, no allocation has been received under the Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligation framework or through any other special arrangements.
He said, “Local refiners, especially the modular refineries, have not been getting crude, I mean zero allocation, under the DCSO or any other special arrangement.”
The DCSO framework, a critical part of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, is a set of regulations and enforcement measures for the local crude oil supply.
However, about 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day meant for domestic refining have been finding their way to the international market as producers and traders shortchange the policy for quick foreign exchange proceeds.
Industry experts say oil companies exploring and selling crude prefer to sell to international traders for foreign exchange, neglecting statutory allocations for domestic refiners.
Disturbed by the challenge, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, banned the export of crude oil meant to meet the needs of domestic refineries in the country.
The NUPRC Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe, emphasised that diverting crude oil meant for local refineries “is a violation of the law”. He warned that the commission will henceforth deny export permits for crude oil cargoes intended for domestic refining.
However, local refiners maintained that the domestic crude market, unless sanitised, might remain a mirage. The CORAN publicity secretary said many members of the group have made private arrangements, including imports to source products.
He, however, expressed his desire for the directive from the regulatory agency to be implemented. He explained, “We have resorted to private arrangements to source products. This process has been herculean, forcing most of the modular refineries to produce below full capacity.
“So, we consider the directive by the NUPRC quite heartwarming, and we hope the IOCs will be cooperative. And none of the modules have benefited from the Naira for crude either.
“Only the NMDPRA have made attempts to reduce the cost of licensing, for which we are most grateful. We tend to have seen more incentives to refined petroleum importers than CORAN members who are investing heavily in the economy and helping our naira against foreign exchange.”
He also urged President Bola Tinubu and his economic team to focus on supporting domestic producers, particularly modular refineries. “We are appealing to Mr President and the government’s economic team to please give attention to local refineries, especially modular refineries,” he concluded.
In a report, the NUPRC disclosed that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and seven other domestic refineries require 770,500 barrels of crude equivalent per day for processing in the first half (January – June) of 2025.
The refineries include the 10,000 bpd OPAC refinery in Delta State, the 5,000 bpd WalterSmith Refinery in Imo State, the 2,500 bpd Duport Midstream in Edo State, and the 1,500 bpd Edo Refinery in Edo State.
Others include the 11,000 bpd Aradel Refinery in Rivers State, the 60,000 bpd old Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers State, the 125,000 bpd Warri Refinery in Delta State and the 110,000 bpd Kaduna Refinery in Kaduna State.
In its first half of 2025 crude oil production forecast of producing oil companies and the refining requirement of functional refineries, the commission said, “The move is pursuant to Section 109 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 and it is aimed at effective capacity utilisation of the nation’s domestic refineries by ensuring a consistent supply of crude oil.”
According to the commission, the allocation constitutes about 37 per cent of the forecasted first-half 2025 average daily production of 2,066,940 bpd.
It maintained that the target would be met as its Project One million barrels, launched in October 2024, had increased the nation’s capacity to produce crude for domestic use and export.
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, however, alleged that oil producers were diverting the daily 500,000 barrels of crude oil meant for local refineries.
The association said this while commending the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission for banning the export of crude oil allocated to local refineries.
The PUNCH recently reported that oil producers exported crude oil and other petroleum products worth N12.96tn in the first quarter of 2025, even as domestic refineries continue to suffer from poor feedstock supply.
This is despite the slow implementation of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation and the Domestic Crude Refining Requirement, which aim to ensure sufficient crude supply to indigenous refineries.
The N12.96tn represents 62.89 per cent of the country’s total export value for the period under review. A breakdown of the data shows that crude oil exports dropped by 16.35 per cent compared to the N15.49tn recorded in the same period of 2024 and by 6.01 per cent from N13.78tn in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Despite the dip, crude oil remained the country’s dominant export commodity, far outpacing other products such as liquefied natural gas, petroleum gases, urea, and cocoa beans.
The NBS report also listed India, the Netherlands, the United States, France, and Spain as Nigeria’s top crude buyers for the period under review, highlighting continued reliance on foreign demand amid challenges in the domestic downstream sector.(Punch)
