by Niyi Jacobs
Retailers and marketers of petroleum products have continued to rely heavily on imports despite the operational capacity of the Dangote Refinery and other local refineries.
Key industry players have cited market competition, unstable pricing, and inadequate domestic production capacity as reasons for the trend.
Billy Gillis-Harry, President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association, and Tunji Oyebanji, former Chairman of the Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, shared their insights in interviews on Monday .
According to Gillis-Harry, petroleum retailers source products from various suppliers, including Dangote Refinery, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and imports.
He insisted that retailers will continue to buy from sources offering the best prices to avoid a monopolized market.
He criticized the tendency of Dangote Refinery to alter fuel prices without proper consultation, describing it as unfair. “We cannot buy a product at N889, and overnight, the prices are dropped to N825.
Retailers are not running away from Dangote Refinery; we patronize every refinery, but we subscribe to full market liberalization,” he said.
Oyebanji, on his part, explained that local refineries are not meeting 100 percent of domestic demand, necessitating imports to fill the gap.
He argued that if local production were sufficient and competitively priced, no rational businessman would opt for imports.
Contrary to claims by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) that Dangote Refinery, Port Harcourt, and Warri refineries met only 50 percent of national demand in February 2025, Dangote Refinery insists it can meet the country’s entire petroleum requirements.
Despite this assurance, National Bureau of Statistics data reveals that petrol imports surged by 105 percent to N15.4 trillion in 2024, with February 2025 alone recording N930 billion worth of imports.
NNPCL, which previously dominated imports, stated it has not imported petrol in 2025. Meanwhile, recent price reductions by NNPCL and Dangote refineries to between N860 and N880 per liter have triggered a price war in the downstream sector, with petrol prices ranging between N860 and N970 per liter nationwide.
As local production struggles to meet demand, stakeholders remain concerned about the sustainability of the current supply structure and the risk of market monopoly.
