Dangote Refinery prepares to import crude oil from US

The oil refinery commenced operations earlier in January.

Aliko Dangote’s refinery project has the capacity to produce 650,000 barrels per day.

Dangote Refinery is preparing to import crude oil from the United States.

According to Blomberg, Trafigura Group has sold two million barrels of WTI Midland to the refinery for delivery at the end of February.

This marks the first time the 650,000 barrel-a-day oil refinery has purchased non-Nigerian crude.

Recall that the oil refinery commenced operations earlier in January after receiving six batches of crude oil from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

The refinery didn’t receive crude supply until late December, and six million barrels of crude have been pumped into the facility in different instalments since then.

When fully operational, the 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote refinery has been touted as a game-changer for Nigeria’s economy by helping to end the country’s reliance on imported fuel.

The initial run will see the refinery churn out diesel and aviation fuel before moving on to petrol production.

Despite its status as Africa’s largest oil producer and the continent’s top economy, Nigeria heavily relies on imported fuel and diesel due to the moribund state of the local refineries.

“Dangote Petroleum Refinery can meet 100 per cent of Nigeria’s requirement of all refined products, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation jet, and also have a surplus of each of these products for export,” the company said in a statement.