The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has issued tenders to sell two fuel cargoes for export, the first from the newly commissioned refinery, trading sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Nigerians have been eagerly looking forward to the release
of products from the $20bn Dangote refinery after it was inaugurated in May
last year by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Recall that on February 8, 2024, The PUNCH reported that
indications emerged that lingering regulatory approvals had stalled Dangote
Petrochemical Refinery’s plan to release aviation fuel (Jet A1) and diesel for
sale in the Nigerian market in January.
The report had stated that one week after the January 31
timeline set by the management of Africa’s largest refinery to begin sale of
its petroleum product in the local market, the refinery was still battling to
cross the hurdles of the several layers of regulatory approvals.
It stated that the development came almost a month after the
refinery began the production of petroleum products at the expansive facility.
On January 12, 2024, Dangote refinery announced that it had
commenced the production of Automotive Gas Oil, popularly called diesel, and
aviation fuel or JetA1.
The refinery, Africa’s largest with a nameplate capacity of
650,000 barrels per day, was built on a peninsula on the outskirts of the
commercial capital Lagos by the continent’s richest man Aliko Dangote.
Nigeria has for years relied on expensive imports for nearly
all the fuel it consumes but the $20bn refinery is set to turn it into a net
exporter of fuel to other West African countries, in a huge potential shift of
power and profit dynamics in the industry
Reuters stated in its report on Wednesday that Dangote
declined its request for comment. The oil firm has also remained mute to
several enquiries.
The first cargo is 65,000 metric tonnes of low-sulphur
straight run fuel oil, which Dangote has awarded to Trafigura and is due to
load at the end of February, three of the sources said, according to Reuters,
as it added that Trafigura declined to comment.
At least one refiner said they had been offered the cargo by
Trafigura without elaborating further.
The second tender is for about 60,000 tonnes of naphtha,
three other sources said. Two of them added that the tender closes on February
15. Loading details were not immediately available.
Sources told Reuters last week that the refinery was
preparing to deliver its first fuel cargoes to the domestic market within
weeks.
The two fuels on offer are typical products of running light
sweet crude through a crude distillation unit in a refinery without further
upgrading capacity.
It is expected to take months for upgrading units to be
brought online, experts have said. The refiner began buying crude in December
last year and Nigeria’s state-owned oil firm NNPC Ltd has been the main
supplier.
Dangote has also purchased some US oil and is expected to
receive two million barrels of US WTI Midland in early March, according to LSEG
and Kpler ship tracking.
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