According to Oando’s H1 and nine-month 2025 financial reports, the firm’s trading division has come under pressure as rising local refining capacity from the 650,000 barrels-per-day Dangote Refinery increasingly meets Nigeria’s petrol demand.
“Our trading segment faced headwinds which exerted pressure on the entity’s revenue and the Group’s topline as a result of declining PMS imports into the country due to rising local refining capacity from the Dangote refinery,” Oando stated.
In response to the evolving market, the company said it has diversified crude offtake sources, optimised trade flows, and expanded into new commodities such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and metals, steps it believes will help cushion the impact of the loss in petrol trading volumes.
The report showed that revenue declined to ₦2.5 trillion in the first nine months of 2025, compared with ₦3.2 trillion in the same period of 2024, while gross profit dropped 42 percent to ₦113 billion from ₦194 billion. The company attributed the dip largely to the reduction in gasoline imports, which has been offset partly by stronger upstream performance.
Despite the revenue slump, Oando recorded a 164 percent surge in profit after tax to ₦210 billion, up from ₦76 billion in the previous year, buoyed by higher crude production and recoveries from legacy assets.
“Across our trading business, refined product volumes remained under pressure, largely due to the success of the Dangote refinery in meeting Nigeria’s import needs. Consequently, our focus has shifted to expanding global crude exports and leveraging structured pre-export transactions,” the company said.
Oando confirmed that it paused Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) trading activities during the period, describing the move as a “conscious strategic decision” reflecting the new realities of Nigeria’s fuel market.
The firm’s trading division instead recorded progress in crude operations, handling 21 cargoes (19.8 million barrels) in the first nine months of 2025 — up from 15 cargoes (16.7 million barrels) a year earlier — under its Project Gazelle initiative aimed at strengthening global crude trade.
Looking ahead, Oando said it would focus on deepening crude trade flows, expanding LNG and metals trading, and developing offtake-linked financing structures to enhance profitability and resilience.
The company’s shift mirrors the broader transformation of Nigeria’s fuel market since the Dangote Refinery began large-scale operations in 2024. With its vast refining capacity, the refinery now supplies a majority of the country’s petrol and diesel needs, drastically reducing dependence on imports.
Last week, the Federal Government introduced a 15 percent import duty on petrol and diesel to discourage foreign imports and protect local refineries — a move analysts say will further price importers out of the market and consolidate the country’s refining self-sufficiency.