Nigeria’s Crude Imports Surge as Dangote Refinery Expands Operations – Reports

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Nigeria’s crude oil imports jumped sharply by 26.5% in the first half of 2025 (H1’25), rising to 5,665,602 metric tonnes from 4,478,413 metric tonnes recorded in the same period of 2024.

The increase has been linked to the operations of the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which has sourced crude oil from several countries, including the United States, Brazil, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea.

A Financial Vanguard quarterly review painted a mixed trend. In Q1 ’25, imports fell 30% to 2,400,553 metric tonnes compared to 3,037,209 metric tonnes in Q1 ’24. However, Q2’25 saw a significant rebound, with crude imports rising 126% to 3,265,099 metric tonnes against 1,441,204 metric tonnes in Q2’24, according to fresh figures from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

The refinery, which began operations in May 2023, started refining diesel and aviation fuel in January 2024 after receiving its maiden crude shipment in December 2023. Since then, it has continued to bring in multiple crude cargoes while exporting refined petroleum products to global markets.

Nigeria’s crude exports, however, showed a decline. Data from the NPA revealed that the country exported 998,500 metric tonnes of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in H1 ’25, a 7.45% drop compared to 1,078,912 metric tonnes in H1 ’24.

The government had projected a daily production of 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd), including condensates, for the period under its Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligation. Of this, 770,500 bpd (about 37%) was earmarked for domestic refineries such as the Dangote Refinery.

But data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) showed lower actual outputs. Nigeria produced 1.737 million bpd in January, 1.671 million bpd in February, 1.603 million bpd in March, 1.683 million bpd in April, 1.657 million bpd in May, and 1.697 million bpd in June 2025. The regulator confirmed that a total of “67,657,559 barrels were delivered to local refiners between January and August 2025.”

Commenting on the situation, Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Sector Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, said Dangote Refinery’s dependence on foreign crude is due to Nigeria’s tight domestic supply.

He explained, “Over time, a significant portion of our crude has been sold through forward contracts, with payments collected in advance to finance refinery turnaround maintenance and other expenditures. That arrangement has limited the volume of crude available locally.

“Don’t forget, much of Nigeria’s oil production is structured through joint ventures with international oil companies, IOCs, which limits unilateral domestic allocation. These are the realities Dangote Refinery is facing.

Similarly, maritime consultant Oluwabunmi Ogunjimi highlighted the refinery’s wider economic benefits, noting that it has boosted government revenue via statutory taxes and port charges.

He said, “Let us look at it from the perspective of the fact that before, nothing was being exported as far as petroleum products are concerned; we were still exporting crude. A lot of our feedstocks have been contracted.

“What Dangote has done is that he has created a downstream industry here because the whole idea of crude oil coming here is economic activities down the value chain, starting from shipping, meaning that more vessels are coming here to deliver crude oil and load refined products.

“These vessels pay ship dues, towage fees, pilotage dues and other taxes. You will be shocked to know that Dangote Petroleum Refinery is now one of the major revenue earners for NPA because the vessels that call at our waters are huge Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC), and ship dues are paid based on the size of the vessels.

“Nigeria did not even have the capacity for Dangote’s refinery. You know he is using Single Buoys Mooring (SBM) underground pipes, which is about 30 kilometres from the refinery to the vessels offshore to transport crude oil and 30 kilometres backward. Crude comes in, it is refined and it goes out to the global market

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