Nigeria’s imports of refined petroleum products from Malta fell sharply by 60 per cent in 2024, reflecting a notable shift in the country’s downstream fuel supply landscape as the Dangote refinery increased its production.
According to TradeMap data, Nigeria imported approximately $818 million worth of petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals from Malta in 2024, a significant decline from over $2.1 billion in 2023.
Imports from Malta Surge in 2023
Between 2017 and 2022, Nigeria recorded virtually no imports from Malta. This changed dramatically in 2023, when the nation imported $2.1 billion in petroleum products from the small Mediterranean island. Industry observers linked the spike to alleged blending operations and unusual fuel shipment routes. Notably, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Industries, claimed that personnel from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, alongside oil traders and terminal operators, had established a blending facility in Malta.
The developments raised concerns regarding transparency, foreign exchange outflows, and supply chain integrity.
Impact of the Dangote Refinery
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Africa’s largest single-train refining complex with a 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity, began producing diesel and aviation fuel in early 2024, with petrol production following soon after. Energy analysts attribute the fall in Malta-origin imports partly to the expansion of domestic refining capacity. For example, reports indicate that Nigeria’s petrol import bill fell by 54 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, largely due to increased local supply from Dangote.
Shipping industry data also show that Nigeria’s seaborne imports of clean petroleum products declined by about 39 per cent in the first seven months of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, coinciding with the Dangote refinery’s start-up.
“As domestic refining capacity grows, the need to import refined petroleum products diminishes,” said Jide Pratt, country manager at TradeGrid and COO of AIONA. Pratt added that the greatest risk remains the reliance on the Dangote refinery for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), particularly if maintenance issues reduce output from 70 per cent to around 30 per cent capacity.
The 60 per cent drop in imports from Malta closely mirrors the operational scale-up of the Dangote refinery in Lagos. Previous reports from the latter half of 2025 also noted a broader decline in Nigeria’s total seaborne petrol imports to an eight-year low, with domestic supply from Dangote effectively replacing the need for European imports. The increased domestic output is not only meeting a growing share of internal demand but is also expected to position Nigeria as a net exporter of refined products—a status not seen for decades.
Seaborne Crude Loadings Reach Six-Month Low
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s seaborne crude oil loadings averaged 1.676 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, the lowest since April, when loadings were recorded at 1.539 million bpd, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data on 21 November. This represented a decline for the second consecutive month, down from September’s 1.756 million bpd and August’s 1.861 million bpd. The highest monthly loadings so far in 2025 occurred in June, with production reaching 1.873 million bpd.
