Business
Petrol consumption falls by 600,000 litres/day
By Ediri Ejoh
Nigeria’s daily consumption of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, fell by 1.27 per cent to 47.4 million litres per day (ML/D) year-on-year (YoY) in June 2026, from 48 million litres per day recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
This represents a decline of about 600,000 litres per day over the one-year period.
The development reflects the residual impact of the downstream deregulation which recorded about 550 percent increase in petrol price from June 2023 to date.
Breakdown of the data contained in the monthly Fact Sheets released by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) showed that average daily PMS consumption between June 2025 and June 2026 stood at about 50 million litres.
Checks by Vanguard revealed that December 2025 recorded the highest PMS consumption during the period, at about 63.7 million litres per day, while September 2025 recorded the lowest, at 43.8 million litres per day.
The NMDPRA also reported that the average daily receipts of key petroleum products included 50.6 million litres of PMS, 16.2 million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), otherwise known as diesel, 2.5 million litres of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK), and 5.1 kilotonnes (KT) of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), otherwise known as cooking gas.
A breakdown of the regulator’s monthly consumption figures showed a constant fluctuation month-on-month.
Average daily PMS consumption stood at 60.2 million litres in January 2026 before dropping to 56.9 million litres in February.
Demand declined further to 47.3 million litres in March, recovered to 51.1 million litres in April, fell to 46.3 million litres in May and rose marginally to 47.4 million litres in June.
Meanwhile, an analysis of NMDPRA supply data showed that local refineries supplied an estimated 6.609 billion litres of PMS during the first six months of 2026, representing 77.9 per cent of the 8.482 billion litres supplied to the domestic market during the period.
Imported petrol accounted for the remaining 1.873 billion litres, representing 22.1 per cent of total supply.
Domestic refineries supplied an average of 40.1 million litres per day in January, 29.4 million litres in February, 34.2 million litres in March, 40.7 million litres in April, 41.5 million litres in May and 32.5 million litres in June.
Imports, on the other hand, contributed 24.8 million litres per day in January, 3.0 million litres in February, 5.9 million litres in March, 3.7 million litres in April, 5.9 million litres in May and 18.1 million litres in June.
