Nigeria earned N998.50bn from petrol exports, known as motor spirit (ordinary) or Premium Motor Spirit, in the first six months of 2026. Analysts say the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s ramp-up and the war in Iran turned a commodity that once topped the import bill into one of the country’s leading exports.
The National Bureau of Statistics’ trade statistics report, released in the second quarter of 2026, showed that N621.72bn of earnings came from African trading partners.
In Q2 2026, PMS ranked seventh among Nigeria’s top exports with N546.02bn, a 2.02 per cent share of total exports. Crude oil led with N12.91tn (47.79 per cent), followed by kerosene-type jet fuel at N2.94tn, natural gas at N2.82tn, urea at N2.12tn, other petroleum gases at N1.89tn and gas oil at N1.32tn.
Nigeria’s fuel export story was different a year earlier. PMS did not rank among the top exports in Q1 2025 but featured among the top imports, as Nigeria spent N1.76tn buying the product. It resurfaced on the export list in Q2 2025 with earnings of N85.83bn, meaning Q2 2026 receipts were more than six times higher.
In separate interviews, experts explained how Dangote Refinery eased the need to import PMS and powered the export drive. Investment research analyst Abeeblahi Rufai said the limited exports in Q1 2025 reflected a lack of surplus product.
Rufai said, “The limited PMS exports in Q1’25 reflected the absence of an exportable refined product surplus. Nigeria remained a heavy importer of petrol, spending N1.76trn on PMS imports in the quarter, which indicates that domestic demand was still absorbing Dangote Refinery’s output.”
He noted that outages and maintenance at the refinery’s Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking unit also constrained gasoline production. An RFCC unit is an advanced secondary conversion unit in an oil refinery that breaks down extremely heavy, low-value residual oils into high-value products like gasoline, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas.
