Nigeria is gradually putting behind the importation of petroleum products as the shipping analytical firm, BIMCO, has revealed that the importation of Clean Petroleum Products (CPP) has declined by 39 per cent in the first seven months of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO, Niels Rasmussen, who disclosed this in a new report, stated that the nation’s seaborne imports of clean petroleum products recorded a sharp drop in the first seven months of 2025, with the report showing that fuel import to Nigeria dropped from 354,000 barrels per day in 2024 to 354,000 barrels per day in 2025.
The decrease follows a four-year southward trend from 482,000 bpd in 2022, to 434,000bpd in 2023, 354,000 bpd in 2024 and 354,000 bpd in 2025 respectively.
This showed that the nation’s efforts towards attaining self-sufficiency are yielding positive results. This has been aided particular with the starting of operations at the 650,000 bpd capacity Dangote Refinery early last year.
By June 2025, the refinery’s output had reached 550,000 bpd according to official figures.
It was therefore not surprising when Rasmussen said: “Imports from Northern Europe have reduced the most. In 2022-2023, prior to the opening of the Dangote facility, Nigeria imported an average of 271,000bpd per year of CPP from North Europe, representing 60 per cent of Nigeria’s total seaborne CPP imports. In 2025, imports have dropped to 48,000 bpd and only 21 per cent of total imports,”
Consequently, BIMCO revealed that Nigeria’s crude oil imports have risen significantly from negligible volumes in 2022-2023 to 179,000bpd year-to-date and reaching 434,000bpd in July 2025. Approximately, two-thirds of year-to-date imports originated in the United States.
“According to Dangote officials, the refinery expect to transition entirely to locally sourced crude before the end of the year. Additionally, anticipated improvements in processing efficiency will increase the facility’s capacity to 700 kbpd by the end of 2025. That could end the volume of crude oil that has supported Suezmaxes and VLCCs and further decrease CPP imports transported by Handysize and MR product tankers,” Rasmussen said.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has appealed to the Federal Government to prioritise the sale of crude oil to the Dangote Refinery in naira.
The Chairman of the NLC, Lagos State chapter, Comrade Funmi Sessi, during a tour to the refinery, argued that forcing the company to import crude or purchase locally in dollars undermines the promise of lower fuel prices for ordinary Nigerians.
Sessi stressed that sourcing crude locally in local currency would significantly lower operational costs and reduction in fuel prices.