LAGOS – Nigeria-based Dangote Refinery has begun the export of refined petroleum products to neighbouring West African countries.
A tanker has hauled a shipment of gasoline from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to waters off the coast of Togo, a neighbouring West African country, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing data from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, a port report, and ship-tracking platform.
According to the report, a CL Jane Austen recently loaded more than 300,000 barrels from Dangote and sailed west.
The chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Authority, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, had said last month that the country was considering buying petroleum products from the Dangote refinery to help the country cut more expensive exports from Europe which cost the country about $400m monthly.
Abdul-Hamid, who spoke at the OTL Africa Downstream Oil Conference in Lagos, said importing from Nigeria rather than Europe would reduce the prices of other goods and services by removing freight costs.
“If the refinery reaches 650,000bpd a day capacity, all that volume cannot be consumed by Nigeria alone, so instead of us importing as we do right now from Rotterdam, it will be much easier for us to import from Nigeria and I believe that will bring down our prices,” the official said.
A report by PUNCH newspaper had also said Dangote Refinery was set to begin fuel exports to South Africa, Angola, and Namibia.
The report revealed that four other African countries – Niger Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Central Africa Republic – had also started negotiations with the refinery.
A credible source said the management of the 650,000bpd capacity refinery was at the advanced stages of talks with the countries to start lifting fuel.
“I can confirm to you that talks are actually at the advanced stage with Ghana, Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, while the initial discussion is coming up with Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic,” the source was quoted as saying.
According to Bloomberg, the petroleum product shipment is now floating off the coast of Lome, a popular area for ship-to-ship transfers. It’s also not certain where the CL Jane Austen’s cargo will ultimately end up.
Although it’s off Togo, the area is often used for Ship-to-ship transfers, meaning the fuel could subsequently be taken elsewhere.
“While the shipment is tiny in the context of the global gasoline market, it signals the ramp-up of Dangote’s production and the potential to export significant volumes of gasoline beyond Nigeria, which could upend regional markets.”
The refinery last month shipped its first seaborne gasoline cargo to the nearby commercial hub of Lagos.
Whether large amounts of Dangote’s gasoline output end up being exported remains to be seen.
Last month, Nigerian government ended its state-owned oil company’s monopoly on buying the fuel from the plant for domestic use but has allowed the continued importation of fuel from Europe and the US in line with the regulatory act.
A Dangote spokesperson did not respond to request for comments.
With agencies