Nigeria’s Dangote refinery, larger than any other in Africa or Europe, has shipped its first seaborne petrol cargo as a vital fuel-producing unit continues to ramp up.
The Sabaek sailed with about 500,000 barrels of petrol from Dangote to the nearby commercial hub of Lagos in recent days, according to a port report and ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, the refinery’s residue fluid catalytic cracker, a crucial unit in the production of the fuel, is continuing to ramp up output, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private information.
Spokespeople for Dangote didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Once fully operational, the 650,000-barrel-a-day plant will transform the regional gasoline market, potentially reducing the need for imports of the fuel from Europe to West Africa. It has already shaken up crude oil flows by trimming an overhang of Nigerian supply.
This first shipment via sea comes about one month after the new refinery began using trucks to transport petrol.
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A refinery’s RFCC unit helps upgrade petroleum products into more valuable fuels like gasoline.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has so far received four cargoes of crude oil from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited under the naira-for-crude sale agreement.
It was gathered that the four cargoes of crude were delivered to the refinery within the past three weeks when the government began the sale of crude to local refineries in the local currency.
Officials said that the refinery was still waiting to receive more crude oil cargoes from NNPCL, the organisation managing the country’s hydrocarbon resources.
They also confirmed that the $20bn Lekki-based plant was now set to begin the direct sale of refined Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, to domestic dealers.
A source close to the Technical Subcommittee on Domestic Sale of Crude Oil in Local Currency, who did not want to be mentioned because he was not permitted to speak with the press, confirmed to The PUNCH that “more cargoes (of crude) would be delivered to the Dangote refinery in the coming weeks.”
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The official disclosed that the programme started with the Dangote refinery as the only petrol-producing facility in Nigeria at the moment.
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