The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has cleared six marketers to import a combined 830,000 metric tonnes of petrol in the fourth quarter, extending a permit structure that has run since the start of the year even as the Dangote refinery ramps up domestic supply.
The midstream regulator issued the approvals, retaining the same roster of beneficiaries used in the previous allocation round, including Matrix Energy, AA Rano, AYM Shafa, NIPCO, Pinnacle Oil and Bono Energy, according to information gathered by Petroleumprice.ng.
The allocation marks the fourth consecutive quarterly increase this year. The six companies split 180,000 tonnes in the first quarter, before the window widened to 720,000 tonnes in the second and topped 800,000 tonnes in the third. The latest figure pushes the annual total further, even as the regulator’s own data show imports playing a shrinking role in the country’s overall fuel supply.
‘The permit structure hasn’t really changed shape all year, same six names, just bigger numbers each quarter,’ said a downstream sector source who tracks the allocations. ‘What’s notable is that it’s growing at exactly the moment local refining is supposed to be taking over.’
NMDPRA figures cited in industry reports show domestic refineries covered roughly 76.7 percent of petrol supply in the first quarter, while imports dropped about 60 percent year-on-year to near 965.5 million litres over the same period, a trajectory that has continued to favor local output.
The timing puts the approvals squarely inside an ongoing legal fight.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has asked the Federal High Court to void import licences it argues are unnecessary given domestic capacity, with the case due back in court on October 7. The refinery’s position is that continued import permits undercut a facility built specifically to end Nigeria’s reliance on imported fuel.
‘There’s a structural tension here that the court case is really just making explicit,’ said an industry analyst who advises marketers on regulatory strategy. ‘You have a regulator that wants to keep a supply buffer in place, and a refiner that thinks the buffer is now redundant and just adds cost to the system.’
Adding to the friction, Dangote has narrowed direct sales of its petroleum products to the Lagos market, according to industry information reviewed by Petroleumprice.ng – a move that leaves marketers outside that corridor more reliant on alternative sources, including the regulated import channel NMDPRA has kept open.
‘If offtake from the refinery is geographically constrained, importers aren’t really competing with Dangote so much as filling gaps it isn’t currently serving,’ the analyst said. ‘That’s a different argument than simply saying imports are unnecessary.’