The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is set to receive 12 million barrels of crude oil from the United States, according to The Africa Report. This move comes as the $20 billion refinery faces local supply challenges, hindering its ability to reach full refining capacity.
The refinery aims to hit its target of 650,000 barrels per day by June this year, but a lack of sufficient local crude from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) is currently affecting its production.
The 12 million barrels of crude, which have already departed the US, are expected to arrive in Nigeria by February. The refinery has been importing more crude oil due to the insufficient supply from the NNPC, which has struggled to provide the required 350,000 barrels per day for the facility, despite a total allocation of 450,000 barrels per day for domestic consumption.
As of now, the Dangote refinery has ramped up production to 500,000 barrels per day, with plans to reach 650,000 barrels per day by mid-2025. However, officials have stated that the refinery cannot rely solely on the NNPC for feedstock and will continue to source crude from abroad.
The naira-for-crude deal, initiated by President Bola Tinubu, still stands, but with the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries expected to come online soon, more refineries could participate in the scheme.
The Dangote refinery plans to build eight additional crude storage tanks to accommodate more imports as local supplies remain unpredictable. These tanks will increase the refinery’s storage capacity by 41.67%, bringing it to 3.4 billion liters.
The refinery has also been purchasing two million barrels of West Texas Intermediate Midland crude monthly, totaling 24 million barrels annually, to meet its production needs. It currently supplies petrol, diesel, and aviation fuel to both Nigeria and other countries.
