KEY POINTS
- Nigeria’s crude imports surged 309% to $1.39bn in Q1 2026 from Q4 2025.
- The Dangote refinery sourced foreign feedstock despite Nigeria’s status as Africa’s top oil producer.
- Nigeria’s current account surplus jumped to $4.98bn in the same quarter of 2026.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest crude oil producer. It is also, increasingly, one of the continent’s biggest crude importers.
New data from the Central Bank of Nigeria show the country spent $1.39 billion on foreign crude oil in the first quarter of 2026. That is a 308.82 percent jump from the $340 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The CBN’s Balance of Payments report for Q1 2026 provides the figures. Crude oil imports made up about 81.8 percent of Nigeria’s total energy import bill. Total imports of crude oil, gas and refined petroleum products stood at $1.70 billion during the quarter.
Dangote’s feedstock hunger drives the surge
The sharp rise points directly at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos. The 650,000-barrel-per-day facility has been running at expanding capacity. But domestic crude supply has not kept pace with its appetite.
Nigeria allocated 61.9 million barrels to domestic refineries in Q1 2026. Actual delivery reached only 28.5 million barrels. That shortfall pushed the refinery into international markets. It pulled feedstock from the United States, Brazil and other Atlantic Basin suppliers to keep production running.
In 2025 alone, the Dangote refinery spent $3.74 billion buying crude from foreign suppliers. The Q1 2026 figure suggests that trend is accelerating.
Current account held up despite the import bill
The crude import surge did not derail Nigeria’s broader trade position. Total exports climbed to $15.49 billion in Q1 2026, up from $13.36 billion in Q4 2025. Nigeria’s current account surplus rose to $4.98 billion, compared to $1.40 billion in the previous quarter.
Petroleum product imports fell sharply by 87.5 percent to $310 million in Q1 2026 from $2.48 billion in Q4 2025. Local refining is clearly cutting Nigeria’s finished-fuel import bill. But until domestic crude delivery catches up with refinery demand, the country will keep paying billions to import the same oil it exports.
The structural irony is stark. Nigeria pumps crude, ships it abroad, then buys it back to feed its own refinery.
