Nigeria’s daily petrol consumption rose to an average of 56.74 million litres in October 2025, according to a report released by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA). This reflects a 19.4 per cent year-on-year increase compared with the average daily consumption of 47.5 million litres in October 2024.
The NMDPRA Fact Sheet, which captures the state of the midstream and downstream petroleum sector in October 2025, revealed fluctuations in figures over the past 12 months, reflecting consumption dynamics. After rising to 56.0 million litres daily in November 2024, it dropped to 52.3 million litres in December 2024. It further dropped to 51.5 million litres in January 2025, 50.4 million litres in February 2025. After rising to 50.9 million litres in March and 55.2 million litres in April, petrol consumption dropped again to 54.4 million litres in May and continued the downward spiral, reaching a low of 43.0 million litres in September.
According to the data, 27.6 million litres of total consumption (44.7 million litres) were imported, while domestic refineries supplied 17.08 million litres.
A look at the chart shows that supply from domestic sources started rising in September 2024 (3.4 million litres) shortly after Dangote refinery commenced refining petrol in Nigeria.
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Supply from domestic sources rose to a peak of 18.6 million litres in November 2024 and plunged by almost 50 per cent to 9.9 million litres in December of the same year. It, however, surged to 19.1 million litres in January 2025 and 24.8 million litres in February. After dropping to 22.9 million litres in March, domestic supply has remained below 20 million litres.
While imported petrol figures have continued to fluctuate in the last 12 months, it has, however, remained higher than domestic supply, accounting for less than 60 per cent of total consumption, according to the NMDPRA data.
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The data show that Nigeria consumed an average of 661.5 million litres of petrol monthly from October 2024 to October 2025.
According to the report, while the Dangote Refinery planned supply of 35 million litres per day, it supplied an average of 18.03 million litres of petrol daily.
However, the state-owned refineries – Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna – operated by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC), have no output as they have remained inactive, undergoing rehabilitation.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist, scholar and analyst of socioeconomic issues in Nigeria and Africa. He is skilled in energy reporting, business and economy, and holds a master's degree in Mass Communication. He can be reached via @VICTOREZEJA on X
