By Monalisa Idahosa
In an indication to traders that the mega-refinery’s operations may soon disrupt regional fuel markets, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has started exporting refined petroleum products to neighboring West African nations.
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that a tanker had transported a consignment of gasoline from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to waters off the coast of Togo, a neighboring West African nation. The article cited data from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, a port report, and a ship-tracking tool.
According to the source, a CL Jane Austen recently departed west after loading over 300,000 barrels from Dangote.
Recall that Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Authority, stated last month that the nation is thinking of purchasing petroleum products from the Dangote refinery in order to reduce the approximately $400 million it spends each month on more costly exports from Europe.
Speaking at the OTL Africa Downstream Oil Conference in Lagos, the chairman of NPA, Ghana, claimed that by eliminating freight expenses, buying from Nigeria instead of Europe would lower the cost of other goods and services.
Hamid stated, “It will be much easier for us to import from Nigeria and I believe that will lower our prices if the refinery reaches 650,000bpd a day capacity because all that volume cannot be consumed by Nigeria alone.” Currently, we import from Rotterdam.
Similarly, two weeks ago, colleagues exclusively reported that the refinery was going to start exporting fuel to Namibia, Angola, and South Africa.
Four additional African nations—Niger Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Central Africa Republic—had also begun talks with the refinery, it was said.
According to a very reliable source who spoke directly to one of our correspondents, the management of the refinery with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day was in the advanced stages of negotiations with the nations to begin lifting petroleum.
The source stated, “I can confirm to you that the initial discussion is coming up with Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic, while talks are actually at the advanced stage with Ghana, Angola, Namibia, and South Africa.”
The petroleum product shipment is currently floating off the coast of Lome, which is a well-liked location for ship-to-ship transfers, according to the source.
Furthermore, the final destination of the cargo of the CL Jane Austen is uncertain.
Despite being off Togo, the region is frequently utilized for ship-to-ship transfers, so the gasoline may eventually be transported elsewhere.
“Even though the shipment is small compared to the global gasoline market, it indicates that Dangote is increasing its production and has the potential to export large amounts of gasoline outside of Nigeria, which could completely disrupt regional markets.”
Last month, the refinery sent its first shipment of gasoline by sea to Lagos, a nearby commercial center.
It’s unclear if Dangote will export a significant portion of its gasoline production.
In accordance with the regulatory statute, the Federal Government last month ended the state-owned oil company’s monopoly on purchasing fuel from the plant for domestic use, but it has permitted the ongoing importation of fuel from the US and Europe.
