Nigeria has surrendered its long-held position as Africa’s largest importer of refined petroleum products amid the increased operations at the Dangote Refinery.
New data from energy consultancy CITAC has revealed that South Africa has overtaken Nigeria as the largest fuel importer, which signifies a major shift in Africa’s downstream oil market.
Dangote Refinery, which started large-scale production early last year, is already distorting regular trade flows across sub-Saharan Africa and reshaping the continent’s energy dynamics.
With a refining capacity of 650,000 barrels every day, the largest single-train refinery all over the world, its increasing output is quickly decreasing Nigeria’s reliance on petrol imports.
The latest research released by an energy consultancy, CITAC, showed that Nigeria imported 3.1 million metric tonnes of refined petroleum products in the first quarter of 2025. In contrast, SA purchased 4.2 million tonnes over the same period, sealing its new position as Africa’s biggest fuel importer.
According to the Executive Director at CITAC, Elitsa Georgieva, the continued operation of Dangote’s refinery is responsible for the reduction in Nigeria’s fuel imports, and since the beginning of the year, SA imports have maintained top spot in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Nigerian imports are dropping as a result of the continued operation of Dangote.
Since the beginning of this year, South African imports have been consistently the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Crude throughput across sub-Saharan African refineries rose by 77.8 per cent year-on-year in 2024, jumping from an average of 382,500 barrels per day in 2023 to 680,100 barrels per day in 2024. This leap was almost entirely driven by the Dangote plant,” he wrote.
This new development marks a huge milestone for Dangote’s country, which has always depended on imported fuel, despite being Africa’s top crude oil producer, for several decades. The report further estimated that Nigeria’s total refined fuel imports for 2025 will drop to 6.4 million tonnes, less than half of South Africa’s projected 15.5 million tonnes.
“The Nigerian market has undergone major product flow changes since mid-2023. The long-awaited 650 kb/d Dangote refinery near Lagos began operations in January 2024, steadily ramping up throughput and streaming secondary units throughout the year. Output from the Dangote refinery has displaced the bulk of international clean products imports in West Africa,” he added.
