Nigeria imported N2.59trn petroleum products in 2016

Nigeria imported a  total of 18,812,253, 160.59 litres of premium motor spirit popularly known as petrol in 2016 at N2,019,611,883,820.93.
Also, the country imported 4,898,603,560 litres of automotive gas oil or diesel at the cost of N505,816,898,206.56 within the same period.
However, figures from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released at the weekend revealed that only 713,789,073.00 litres of kerosene worth N70,756,405,276.45 was imported for use.
Taken together, this gives a total figure of N2,596,185,187,303.94 spent on importation of these essential petroleum products between January and December of the year.
In the Petroleum Products Imports Statistics 4th Quarter 2016, NBS reported that “4.83 billion litres of premium motor spirit (PMS), 1.00 million litres of automotive gas oil (AGO) and 182.9 million litres of household kerosene (HHK), valued at N629.6bn, N136.1bn and N24.7bn respectively, were imported into the country during the period.
State-wide distribution of truck-out volume for Q4 2016 showed that 4.83 billion of premium motor spirits (PMS), 1.00 billion litres of automotive gas oil (AGO) and 182.95 million litres of household kerosene were distributed nationwide during the period under review.
The month of May 2016 recorded the highest volume of PMS imported into the country at 2.02 billion litres valued at N249.88 billion.
This coincides with the May 11, 2016 official announcement by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Ibe kachikwu on the deregulation of PMS importation aimed at improving its supply nationwide.
In January of the year, landing cost of PMS was N66.87, which went down to N62.91 in February and then continued the upward movement.
From N81.2 in April, landing cost escalated to N123.33 in May and eventually ended the year at N136.71.
For diesel, the product landed in Lagos port at N59.33 in January; but because of depreciating value of naira, this has increased to N142.82 even though it was being dispensed for between N250 and N300 at filling stations.
The report also explained that landing cost for kerosene was N60.13 in January, but ended the year at N144.05.