KEY POINTS
- NMDPRA has opened a 21-day consultation on rules targeting fuel price-fixing and anti-competitive practices.
- Proposed rules would prohibit coordinated pricing, market-sharing, bid-rigging, artificial scarcity and the exchange of sensitive commercial information.
- If approved, the regulations could strengthen competition, improve fuel-market transparency and protect consumers from coordinated pricing practices.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA has proposed new regulations aimed at preventing fuel marketers and other petroleum industry players from manipulating prices, creating artificial shortages or engaging in other practices that could undermine competition in Nigeria’s midstream and downstream petroleum sectors.
The proposed Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Prevention of Anti-Competitive Practices and Behaviour Regulations, 2026, are currently open for a 21-day stakeholder consultation, giving petroleum companies, licensees, permit holders and other industry participants an opportunity to review the draft and submit their views.
Under the proposed rules, petroleum companies would be prohibited from entering into agreements or arrangements designed to prevent, restrict or distort competition.
The regulations specifically target price-fixing and coordinated pricing. Companies would not be allowed to jointly determine or align pump prices, ex-depot prices, profit margins, discounts, surcharges, freight costs or other elements used to determine the final price of petroleum products.
If approved, the rules would provide the regulator with a clearer framework to tackle situations where competing companies allegedly coordinate their pricing rather than independently responding to market conditions.
The proposal comes amid continuing concerns over fuel pricing and competition in Nigeria’s downstream market, particularly as domestic refining capacity expands and importers compete with locally produced petrol. The proposed regulations go beyond price-fixing by targeting deliberate actions that could create artificial shortages.
Companies would be barred from coordinating production, imports, transportation, throughput or supply reductions with the intention of manipulating prices or limiting the availability of petroleum products.
The draft also addresses market allocation, under which competitors could agree to divide customers, geographical areas or product categories among themselves.
Bid-rigging and collusive tendering are also listed among the practices that would be prohibited.
Regulator Moves Against Secret Coordination
The NMDPRA is also seeking to prevent companies from engaging in less obvious forms of coordination.
The draft covers so-called tacit collusion, where companies may not have a formal agreement but could use public statements, industry associations or other channels to signal future pricing or business strategies to competitors.
The proposed rules would also restrict the exchange of commercially sensitive information, including future pricing plans, production schedules, customer information, marketing strategies and bidding intentions.
This is designed to make it more difficult for competing businesses to coordinate their activities indirectly while avoiding a formal written agreement.
The NMDPRA has invited stakeholders to examine the proposed regulations and submit comments within 21 days, in accordance with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
A stakeholder consultation forum is scheduled for September 22 at the NMDPRA headquarters in Abuja, where industry participants are expected to discuss the proposed framework before the rules are finalised.
The process is expected to allow petroleum marketers, refiners, importers and other industry players to raise concerns and make recommendations on how the regulations should be implemented.
The proposed regulations come at a time when competition in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum market is receiving increased attention.
Independent petroleum marketers had previously raised concerns over differences in the prices at which some major importers supplied Premium Motor Spirit, commonly known as petrol, compared with prices offered by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
The NMDPRA has also indicated interest in improving transparency in petroleum pricing and exploring an African petroleum products reference price benchmark that could better reflect market conditions across the region.
