Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has banned Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) sales to major marketers who continue importing petrol into Nigeria, citing concerns over product quality, market transparency and brand integrity.
The measure could take effect immediately, amid the continued entry of imported PMS into a market with substantial domestic refining capacity.
Sources familiar with the refinery's position said some marketers are blending substandard imported PMS with product purchased from Dangote Refinery before distributing it to the market, making it difficult to distinguish refinery-supplied product from third-party blends.
"It is difficult to understand why we would invest heavily in producing high-quality petroleum products for Nigerians, only for those products to be mixed with imported products of uncertain quality and the resulting product to be associated with the refinery," a source said.
The refinery also cited the absence of a standard regulatory laboratory and quality control infrastructure to independently verify and certify imported petroleum products entering the Nigerian market.
The development comes as Nigeria's downstream sector shifts from import dependence toward domestic refining. Dangote Petroleum Refinery, with a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, supplies both local and international markets with products meeting recognised quality specifications.
The US Energy Information Administration named the refinery a major driver of Nigeria's seaborne petroleum product exports, which averaged 561,000 barrels per day in the second quarter of 2026, up from an annual average of 79,000 barrels per day in 2023.
The refinery's jet fuel has also gained traction in the US and Europe, with Dangote maintaining its position as Europe's largest external supplier for several consecutive months, ahead of traditional exporters from the US and the Middle East.