The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has begun exporting refined petroleum products to neighbouring West African countries, indicating to traders that the mega-refinery’s operations may soon shake up regional fuel markets.
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing data from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, a port report, and a ship-tracking tool, that a tanker had transported a consignment of petrol from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to waters off the coast of Togo, a neighbouring West African country.
According to the source, the CL Jane Austen recently loaded more than 300,000 barrels from Dangote before sailing west.
Recall that last month, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Authority, stated that the country is considering purchasing petroleum products from the Dangote refinery to help the country reduce more expensive exports from Europe, which cost the country approximately $400 million per month.
The chairman of NPA Ghana, speaking at the OTL Africa Downstream Oil Conference in Lagos, stated that importing from Nigeria rather than Europe would lower the price of other goods and services by eliminating freight costs.
“If the refinery reaches 650,000 bpd 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,” Hamid said.
In the same vein, it was reported two weeks ago that the refinery was set to begin fuel exports to South Africa, Angola, and Namibia.
It also stated that four other African countries—the Niger Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic—had begun negotiations with the refinery.
According to a highly reputable source who revealed this confidentially to one of our correspondents, the management of the refinery with a capacity of 650,000 bpd is in advanced talks with the countries about starting to lift petroleum.
“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 said.
According to the report, the petroleum product shipment is currently drifting off the coast of Lome, a popular location for ship-to-ship transfers. It’s still unclear where the CL Jane Austen’s cargo will eventually wind up.
Although it lies off Togo, the area is frequently utilised for ship-to-ship transfers, which means the fuel might be transported 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.”
