The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regula- tory Authority (NMDPRA) has raised the alarm over the potential threat posed to Nigeria’s oil revenue by renewed protectionist policies rolled out by United States’ President Donald Trump.
NMDPRA Chief Executive Officer, Farouk Ahmed, who addressed journalists at the State House yesterday, also disclosed that the daily fuel consumption in the country dropped by 17 million litres since the removal of fuel subsidy by the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
This came as he added that the importation of the premium motor spirit (PMS) dropped by 17 million litres from August 2024 to April this year due to increased local production.
According to Ahmed, the American President’s aggressive tariff regime targeting major global economies has triggered instability in the international crude oil market, pushing prices downward and eroding investor confidence. He warned that the ripple effects of these policies were already being felt in oil-dependent countries like Nige- ria, which rely on crude oil exports for nearly 90% of its foreign exchange earnings and a significant portion of government revenue.
“The global oil market today is reacting sharply to the erratic tariffing policies of the new American government. These tariffs are not only aimed at China but are sweeping across multiple countries and regions. They are unsettling the balance of demand and supply, particularly in the energy sector,” he asserted.
According to him, the unpredictability surrounding Washington’s economic direction was forcing traders into short-term strategies, with many now engaging in daily trading to avoid losses from abrupt policy reversals. “We’re seeing traders close out by the end of each day because they’re unsure what tomorrow’s news from the US will bring,” he said. “This isn’t healthy for the global market.”
The NMDPRA boss added that the Trump administration appeared to be intentionally pushing for lower oil prices—possibly below the $50 per barrel mark— through a combination of increased domestic drilling and trade pressures on global suppliers.
In a related development, Ahmed also revealed that Nigeria’s average daily petrol consumption has dropped significantly since the removal of petrol subsidies in 2023, adding another layer to the shifting dynamics in the country’s energy sector. He said daily consumption fell from 66.9 million litres in May 2023 to 49.8 million litres as of April 2025—a reduction of 17.1 million litres.
On the observed drop in fuel importation, Ahmed said Nigeria has reduced its importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by 30 million litres by cutting daily volumes from 44.6 million litres in August 2024 to 14.7 million litres as of April 13, 2025. He attributed the 30-million-litre drop in imports to increased contributions from local refineries disclosing that local production of petrol surged by 670 per cent during the same period.
He attributed this rise to the gradual restart of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in late November, along with added output from modular refineries across the country. Ahmed emphasised that the NMDPRA issued import licenses strictly in line with national supply requirements, underscoring the Authority’s commitment to balancing imports with growing local production capacity.
Meanwhile, the Authority also said the estimated pump price of fuel in Nigeria is less than that of neighbouring countries in the West African sub-region. The development comes despite Nigeria’s fuel subsidy removal, which jerked up the price of fuel in the country.
According to Ahmed fuel is currently sold at an average pump price of N950 per litre in Nigeria. Highlighting the price othe product in some West African countries, Ahmed said the product costs N2,156 per litre in Cameroon, N1,875 per litre in Chad, and N1,167 per litre in Niger.
In Ghana and Senegal, the NMDPRA CEO said a litre of fuel costs N1,581 and N2,540, respectively. Ahmed said the cost of the product in the West African countries was converted to “the current naira exchange rate to see what is the estimated cost of that in terms of naira”.
