The Central Bank of Nigeria has given oil industry participants access to $2.97 billion in funding for the importation of petroleum products and related goods into the nation.

The quantity provided between 2022 and the first quarter of 2024 is in light of Nigeria's severe energy situation, the scarcity of fuel, and marketers' insistence on importing fuel even if Dangote Refinery is supplying petrol.

The Punch reported that the country's foreign reserves and the naira-to-dollar exchange rate are impacted by fuel imports, a major consumer of foreign cash.

Wale Edun, the coordinating minister of the economy and Minister of Finance, announced on Thursday that the nation's foreign reserves currently hold around $2.35 billion in net inflows.

More breakdown

As of September 17, 2024, Nigeria had $37.24 billion in external reserves.

According to a breakdown using the first quarter of 2024's quarterly statistical bulletin, the apex bank released $1.41 billion for fuel imports in 2022. By 2023, the amount had decreased to $1.03 billion, a 26.9% decrease.

The bank allotted $522.9 million for imports in the first quarter of 2024, representing 0.01 per cent of the $4 billion spent on imports during the review period but a 12.86% rise over the $463.3 million reported in the previous period of 2023.

According to the CBN's data on sectoral utilisation for FX transactions, petrol imports accounted for $173.88 million of transactions in January 2023, $137.67 million in February, and $151.75 million in March.

Forex for gasoline import transactions decreased to $132.36 million in April and $177.92 million in May before increasing to $89.85 million in June.

The nation imported petroleum products worth $45.82 million in July and zero dollars in August.

According to the top bank, fuel imports were $42.43 million in September, $38.46 million in October, $51.95 million in November, and $52.14 million in December.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria's PMS import value reached N3.22tn in the second quarter of 2024, the highest level ever recorded in the history of the country.

Additionally, it stated that 25% of all imports during the second quarter of 2024 were petrol imports.

Refiners react to reported abandonment of Dangote petrol

Legit.ng reported that officials at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and domestic crude oil refiners have taken a stand against major oil marketers in Nigeria starting to import Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol.

Oil refiners alleged that some imported fuels were inferior to those made by the Dangote refinery, and officials of the $20 billion plant located in Lekki reaffirmed this claim.

This follows a report on Wednesday that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, three major oil marketers were anticipating vessels carrying imported petrol this week.