Africa’s largest oil refinery, the Dangote Refinery, has made a significant move by issuing tenders to sell its first two fuel cargoes for export. This marks a crucial step for the newly commissioned facility and has generated buzz in the industry.
According to Reuters, three sources said the first cargo is 65,000 metric tons of low-sulphur straight-run fuel oil, which Dangote has awarded to Trafigura and is due to load at the end of February.
The second tender is for about 60,000 tons of naphtha, three other sources told the news agency. Two of them added that the tender closes on Feb. 15.
The news comes shortly after reports that the refinery on the outskirts of Lagos was preparing to deliver its first fuel cargoes to the domestic market within weeks.
BusinessDay had reported on January 15, 2024 that the seven major oil marketers in Nigeria had registered with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery for the lifting and distribution of refined petroleum products produced by the $20bn plant.
The report stated that dealers under the aegis of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (now MEMAN) confirmed that with the registration, they would commence the distribution of fuel produced from the facility once the commercial terms were sorted.
It further stated the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria also revealed that they met with the management of the Dangote refinery to discuss terms of product loading.
Similarly, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria stated that PETROAN had been engaging the management of the multi-billion dollar refinery for the supply of products from the facility.
The report outlined the seven major marketers to include 11 Plc, Conoil Plc, Ardova Plc, MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, OVH Energy Marketing Limited, Total Nigeria Plc and NNPC Retail.
