Nigeria’s petrol demand hits 52.4m litres daily as pump prices climb

Nigeria recorded a 10.78 per cent increase in daily petrol consumption in April 2026 despite rising fuel prices, according to data released by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.

The report showed that daily consumption of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, rose to 52.4 million litres in April from 47.3 million litres in March.

This increase came even as the average pump price of petrol climbed to N1,370 per litre in April, up from N1,180 per litre in March — an increase of approximately 13.8 per cent.

In its April 2026 report released yesterday, the NMDPRA disclosed that total petrol supply from the Dangote Refinery and imported products increased by 10.7 per cent to 44.4 million litres per day in April, compared to 40.1 million litres per day recorded in March.

The figures showed that supply from the Dangote Refinery rose significantly by 19 per cent to 40.7 million litres daily in April from 34.2 million litres daily in March.

However, petrol imports dropped by 37.3 per cent to 3.7 million litres per day, down from 5.9 million litres per day in the previous month.

The report also revealed that imported crude oil fell sharply by 95.65 per cent to 0.41 million barrels in April from 9.43 million barrels recorded in March.

Meanwhile, local crude oil supply from Nigerian upstream firms to domestic refineries increased by 56 per cent, reaching 17.99 million barrels in April compared to 11.48 million barrels supplied in March.

The NMDPRA stated that the 650,000 barrels-per-day Dangote Refinery achieved 99.12 per cent operational capacity in April, while the state-owned refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna remained dormant.

Separately, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission reported that Nigeria’s crude oil production, including condensates, increased slightly to 1.663 million barrels per day in April from 1.546 million barrels per day in March.

Despite the increase, Nigeria was still unable to meet the 1.5 million barrels-per-day production quota allocated by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

According to the NUPRC’s National Liquid Hydrocarbon Production Report released yesterday, average daily crude oil production remained around 1.4 million barrels per day, while overall production including condensates stood at roughly 1.6 million barrels per day in April.

The latest figures come as the Federal Government and key industry players intensify efforts to raise oil output to two million barrels per day to improve government revenue, boost foreign exchange inflows and support the execution of the 2026 budget.

The report added that Nigeria has continued to fall short of both its OPEC production quota and the 1.84 million barrels-per-day benchmark contained in the 2026 budget assumptions.

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