The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) supplied 10 crude oil cargoes to the Dangote Refinery in March, marking a significant step in ramping up operations at Africa’s largest oil processing facility.
Bloomberg reports that president of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, who controls the continent’s largest crude processing plant, confirmed this to reporters at a briefing on Monday.
Nigeria doubled crude supply to Dangote Refinery in March as Africa’s top oil producer moved to shore up fuel availability after the Iran war disrupted Middle East shipments.
“Last month, they gave us six cargoes for naira and four cargoes for dollars,” Dangote said.
The increased supply underscores Nigeria’s push to secure domestic fuel availability after the US-Israel attack on Iran disrupted global supply chains. At full capacity, the Dangote refinery can meet domestic demand and have enough to export.
The facility had been receiving an average of five cargoes a month since October 2024, when the NNPC and Dangote signed a deal in which the state energy firm agreed to supply crude to the plant to be paid for in naira.
Still, the March shipments fall short of the 19 cargoes that Dangote Refinery says it needs to operate at full capacity. The company supplements the shortfall with imports of crude from the US and other African countries.
While supply from the NNPC has improved, Dangote said that volumes from international oil companies operating in Nigeria have not increased.
The overseas firms prefer selling crude to traders, Dangote said, which leads to the refinery repurchasing supplies from them at a higher cost.
“The higher we pay, the higher the cost of petroleum products will be, because we have to pass on the cost,” he said.
Many Africa nations have come to rely on the refinery for their petroleum products since the start of conflict in the Persian Gulf, Dangote said. In March, the refinery shipped about 17 cargoes to other African countries, he said.
The company is also supplying polypropylene, which is used in plastic packaging and automotive parts. The material “is in very high demand, but also very scarce because of what is happening in the Middle East,” Dangote said.
The tycoon is worth $32.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him Africa’s richest person.
