NMDPRA approves six firms to import petrol

In continuation of the full deregulation of the downstream sector and in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, six firms have been licensed by the industry regulator, the Nigeria Mainstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), to import premium motor spirit (PMS) or petrol, into the country effective from July.

Until this approval, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), has been the sole importer of the product. The PIA stipulates that no individual or firm can import more than 30 percent of the country’s total domestic need of petrol.

Although the NMDPRA boss, Farouk Ahmed, did not mention the names of the firms, he was however emphatic that Dangote Group, a firm that recently inaugurated its refinery, is not among the six companies licensed for fuel import.


“There are six companies who said they want to import fuel in July. Of course, all the others may import in November, in December, or anytime but those who expressed interest to bring in fuel in July were six as of this morning (yesterday). The beauty of it is that there are interests which means that they have been able to have access to foreign exchange in order to import,” Ahmed said.

He added that anyone can apply for importation to get access to the port as the Authority is open to all those interested in importing.