The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) will deploy between 50 and 70 smart self-service filling stations across Nigeria within six months, expanding a new retail model that allows motorists to pay digitally and dispense fuel with limited assistance from attendants.

The rollout follows the introduction of a smart station in Abuja, where customers can use the NNPC Retail mobile application to fund a digital wallet and generate an authorisation code for fuel dispensing.

The Abuja facility combines conventional petrol and diesel sales with electric vehicle charging, liquefied petroleum gas services, vehicle maintenance and automated car washing.

NNPCL is also planning to add compressed natural gas services, including a facility for converting vehicles to CNG, to the smart-station model.

The new outlets are designed around self-service transactions, although staff will remain available to assist customers and manage operations at the facilities.

The Abuja station has storage capacity for 180,000 litres of petrol and 45,000 litres of diesel. It also has six electric vehicle charging points supported by a solar-powered system with capacity exceeding 200 kilowatts.

Abuja and Kano have been identified among locations where additional smart stations are being planned ahead of the wider deployment.

The new retail model brings fuel sales and several vehicle-related services into the same facility, with digital payment forming part of the customer transaction process.

NNPCL’s planned rollout covers between 50 and 70 stations nationwide over the next six months, with the Abuja facility serving as the first station under the smart retail model.

Further locations are expected to be introduced as the company proceeds with the deployment.