Nigeria’s reliance on crude shipments from the United States has expanded sharply this year, despite government pressure on producers to prioritise local deliveries. Import volumes more than doubled in the first eight months of 2025 as refineries, led by the new Dangote complex near Lagos, increasingly depend on foreign barrels to sustain operations.
New data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows Nigeria imported 31.69 million barrels between February and August, a 101 percent rise from the same period in 2024. June marked the biggest jump, with cargoes soaring to over nine million barrels, helped by the availability of light sweet crude grades suited to Nigeria’s emerging refining capacity. Analysts say the trend reflects weak supply performance at home, inconsistent government allocations and the ongoing commercial preference among upstream operators to export for dollar revenue.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission reports that 67.66 million barrels were allocated to all local refiners over the period, far below the 123.48 million barrels requested for the first half of the year. Producers have been accused of prioritising exports, leaving refiners to compete for barrels in global markets. The Dangote refinery has been sourcing as many as 370,000 barrels a day from the U.S., more than it receives locally, according to commodities tracker Kpler. The firm said July marked the first time foreign supplies exceeded domestic feedstock at the plant.
Demand remains at odds with Nigeria’s petroleum policy, which seeks to secure energy independence while reducing the multibillion-dollar bill for imported refined products. Nigeria pumped around 1.63 million barrels a day of crude and condensates in August, but most of it continued to sail overseas.
