Nigeria earned N998.5 billion from petrol exports in the first half of 2026, a major turnaround for a product that was its biggest import burden just a year ago.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) foreign trade report for Q2 2026 shows that of the total, N621.72 billion came from sales to African trading partners.
The surge is largely driven by the ramp up of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and tighter global fuel supply linked to the Iran war.
In Q2 2026 alone, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) exports were valued at N546.02 billion. That made PMS Nigeria’s seventh largest export, accounting for 2.02% of total exports for the quarter.
Crude oil remained the top export at N12.91 trillion (47.79%), followed by kerosene type jet fuel at N2.94tn, natural gas N2.82tn, urea N2.12tn, other petroleum gases N1.89tn and gas oil N1.32tn.
The shift is stark compared to 2025. In Q1 2025, PMS did not even feature among Nigeria’s top exports. Instead, Nigeria spent N1.76 trillion importing petrol. By Q2 2025, petrol exports emerged at just N85.83 billion. The N546.02 billion recorded in Q2 2026 is more than six times that figure, about 536% growth.
Analysts link the growth to improved operations at the 650,000bpd Dangote Refinery. Investment research analyst Abeeblahi Rufai told Punch that early 2025 exports were low because there was no exportable surplus.
“Domestic demand was still absorbing Dangote Refinery’s output,” he said, noting that outages at the refinery’s Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) unit and naira for crude obligations also limited volumes available for export.
With production now stabilised, the refinery is meeting more of local demand and creating surplus for export to regional and international markets.
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