Dangote Refinery is expected to rely totally on Nigerian crude by the end of the year.
According to Bloomberg on Tuesday, Dangote Industries Limited expects Africa’s biggest refinery to rely solely on crude sourced exclusively locally.
This development would replace hundreds of thousands of barrels a day of imported oil from the US, Angola, Brazil, and Algeria among others. It is also expected to ease foreign exchange dependence for imports.
According to Mr Devakumar Edwin, vice president at Dangote Industries, the 650,000 barrels per day structure received about half of its crude in June from local producers who will be able to sell more to the facility as their foreign supply obligations end.
This changes an earlier stance presented by Mr Edwin in 2023, where he said the plant will not rely on Nigerian crude from the NNPC Limited as it will consider other sources, including the US and Saudi Arabia.
He said it was not advisable for the plant to be solely dependent on Nigerian crude, meaning the refinery can process most African crudes as well as Middle Eastern Arab Light and even US light-tight oil. He also didn’t rule out Russian oil which was heavily sanctioned by the West at the time.
This also signifies that the refinery may meet its target to fully produce at full capacity by the end of 2025.
Also, the refinery also commenced exports to Asia last month with 90,000 metric ton cargo of petrol, according to, Mercuria – a Switzerland-based global commodity trading firm.
This development will change the export strategy of the 650,000 barrels per day refinery which started exporting petrol last year. However, the cargoes have stayed in West Africa.
The Asia route also points to the fact that the $20 billion Dangote refinery is growing and can take upon the global market as a petrol supplier.