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‎By Onu Okorie

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‎Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority NMDPRA factsheet has shown that daily receipts of Premium Motor Spirit PMS, fell 10 per cent month-on-month to 45.5 million litres a day in July, down from 50.6 million litres in June.

‎The decline was driven almost entirely by a drop in domestic supply, which fell 21 per cent to 25.8 million litres a day, even as imports rose nine per cent to 19.7 million litres a day to help offset the shortfall.

‎Consumption told a similar story, as petrol trucked out into the domestic market fell 25 per cent from June to July, to 35.7 million litres a day.

‎The figure was well below the 50 million-litre daily demand benchmark used by the regulator for 2026 and represented the lowest monthly figure in the 13 months of data contained in the report.

‎The development was contained in the latest NMDPRA factsheet released on Monday, which showed a mixed performance across Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector in July, with petrol supply declining sharply while diesel receipts increased and petroleum product reserves remained substantial.

‎Diesel, known as Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), moved in the opposite direction, with daily receipts rising by 46 per cent to 23.6 million litres.

‎Diesel imports, which were virtually nil in June, rose to 7.9 million litres a day in July, even as domestic diesel supply recorded a slight decline.

‎Aviation fuel, or Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK), receipts fell 24 per cent to 1.9 million litres a day, while Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), commonly known as cooking gas, receipts increased by four per cent to 5.3 kilotonnes daily.

‎The NMDPRA said NLNG and other domestic processing plants supplied the bulk of the LPG volume.

‎Dangote refinery

‎The factsheet showed that state-owned refineries remained largely idle during the month, while the Dangote Refinery recorded an average capacity utilisation of 71.09 per cent in July, lower than in previous months.

‎The refinery produced 25.9 million litres of PMS daily, supplying 25.8 million litres to the domestic market and exporting 3.4 million litres per day. It ended the month with 446.1 million litres of petrol in stock.

‎Its diesel production averaged 19.1 million litres per day, with 15.7 million litres supplied domestically and 11 million litres exported daily.

‎The refinery’s aviation fuel production reached 15.6 million litres per day. However, only 1.9 million litres went to the domestic market, while 11.6 million litres were exported.

‎The figures indicate that a significant proportion of the refinery’s jet fuel output continued to be directed to overseas markets rather than the Nigerian aviation sector.

‎Government refineries remain idle

‎The Port Harcourt Refining and Petrochemical Company remained shut throughout July, while the Warri and Kaduna refineries were both listed as “not producing.”

‎Performance among smaller modular refineries varied considerably.

‎Edo Refinery recorded 95.72 per cent utilisation, followed by WalterSmith at 70.42 per cent and Aradel at 36.32 per cent.

‎OPAC recorded only 0.86 per cent utilisation, while Duport modular refinery remained completely shut.

‎Fuel reserves

‎Despite the decline in petrol throughput, national petroleum product sufficiency remained relatively stable.

‎Petrol stocks covered 22.4 days of supply, while diesel stocks covered 46.5 days. Aviation fuel had 58.6 days of supply, while LPG stocks covered 16.3 days.

‎The regulator’s minimum sufficiency threshold across the products is 30 days. Consequently, only diesel and aviation fuel exceeded the threshold in July.

‎Petrol sufficiency fluctuated during the month, falling to 19.11 days on July 27 before recovering slightly towards the end of the month.

‎Petrol prices

‎The NMDPRA data also showed variations in petrol pump prices across major cities.

‎The average price ranged from about N1,204 per litre in Lagos to N1,345 per litre in Maiduguri, against an average Dated Brent crude price of $83.41 per barrel during the period.

‎Cooking gas sold for an average of N1,325 per kilogram in Lagos, while consumers in Sokoto paid about N1,575 per kilogram.