The Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Farouk Ahmed, made this disclosure on Tuesday while addressing State House correspondents during the sixth edition of the Meet-the-Press briefing series hosted by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Ahmed attributed the drop in imports to the phased restart of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in late November 2024 and the increased output from modular refineries.
He revealed that local production of PMS surged by 670 per cent over the period, rising from virtually zero in August to 26.2 million litres per day by early April. This is a notable increase from the 3.4 million litres per day recorded in September, the first month with measurable domestic output.
However, despite these gains, total PMS supply exceeded the government’s benchmark of 50 million litres per day only twice in the eight-month period—56 million litres in November and 52.3 million litres in February. In March, supply narrowly missed the target at 51.5 million litres, while the first half of April saw an average supply of 40.9 million litres per day, still below the threshold.
Ahmed clarified that the NMDPRA issues import licenses only based on the nation's supply needs, emphasizing the Authority’s commitment to aligning importation with actual demand.
