The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has recorded significant improvements in the clearance of petroleum product vessels at Nigerian ports, with most approvals completed within 24 hours in November 2025.
Official vessel clearance records from the regulator show that many applications were approved within hours of submission, while several vessels received clearance on the same day documents were filed. In a number of cases, approvals were granted within minutes, particularly where operators submitted complete documentation at the outset.
The clearance schedule, which covered dozens of vessels operated by both major and independent marketers, indicates that processing times were generally short, ranging from a few minutes to several hours.
Only a small number of applications took close to or more than 18 hours, often due to late submissions, document corrections or technical issues.
Vessels linked to Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals recorded some of the quickest approval times during the period.
At least two Dangote-related vessels were cleared in about 10 to 11 minutes, reflecting what the authority described as immediate processing once all required documents were properly submitted.
The records further suggest that most delays were caused by applicant-related issues rather than regulatory bottlenecks.
Remarks attached to slower approvals pointed to incomplete documentation, resubmissions and portal-related challenges as the main reasons for extended processing times.
Major marketers such as NNPC Trading, NNPC Retail, Ardova, TotalEnergies, NIPCO, Rainoil and Eterna featured prominently in the clearance schedule.
Analysts noted that approval times varied even within applications from the same companies, reinforcing the view that compliance and timing, rather than company size, determined how quickly approvals were granted.
The faster vessel clearance comes amid ongoing public debate over Nigeria’s fuel import levels. Data from the NMDPRA show that oil marketers imported no less than 1.5 billion litres of petrol in November 2025, translating to an average of 52.1 million litres per day.
This represents the highest monthly import figure since the Dangote refinery began petrol production in September 2024.
During the same month, the $20bn Dangote refinery supplied about 19.5 million litres of petrol per day, amounting to roughly 585 million litres for the month. The figures highlight Nigeria’s continued dependence on imported fuel despite growing local refining capacity.
Explaining the rise in fuel imports, the NMDPRA said supply levels in September and October 2025 fell below national demand, necessitating increased imports in November.
However, the Dangote refinery disputed this explanation, accusing the former leadership of the regulator of actions that undermined local supply.
