In a significant shift in bilateral energy trade, the United Kingdom imported £1.02 billion worth of refined petroleum products from Nigeria in the 12 months through June 2026, fuelled by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery expanding Nigeria’s capacity for oil exports in the form of processed fuel.
Per the UK government’s latest Trade and Investment Factsheet released on November 6, 2026, refined petroleum accounted for 53.5% of Britain’s total goods imports from Nigeria during that timeframe.
The report notes that refined oil shipments more than doubled compared to the preceding 12-month period ending June 2025, making it the single largest commodity category the UK purchased from Nigeria.
The development signals an evolving trade dynamic between both countries, with Nigeria increasingly exporting value-added petroleum products rather than relying predominantly on raw crude shipments.
These figures align with the operational scale-up of the Dangote Refinery, which boasts a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day and has steadily expanded its footprint in international fuel markets.
According to a PUNCH review of the data, UK imports of Nigerian crude oil fell by 56.2% to £550.3 million over the same period, representing 28.9% of Britain’s total goods imports from Nigeria.
This confirms that processed fuel now outpaces crude oil in Nigeria’s petroleum oil export trade with the United Kingdom.
Refined petroleum exports surpassed crude oil shipments by £467 million, representing a roughly 85% margin.
Combined, refined and crude oil accounted for approximately £1.57 billion—or 82.4%—of all British goods imported from Nigeria.
Backstory…
For decades, Nigeria exported crude oil but relied heavily on foreign refineries to meet domestic petrol, diesel and aviation fuel needs, largely because its state-owned refineries operated below capacity or remained shut down.
However, the commissioning of the 700,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery in 2024 began changing that pattern, as locally processed petroleum products increasingly replaced imports and entered international markets.
By the second quarter of 2026, Nigeria’s seaborne petroleum product exports had risen to an average of 350,000 barrels daily, compared with 46,000 barrels in 2023, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Meanwhile, recall that previous report revealed that Britain exempted Nigeria from stricter compliance rules under its new sanctions targeting fuels refined from Russian crude in third-party countries.
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