THE Dangote Petroleum Refinery has begun the export of refined petroleum products to neighbouring West African countries, a sign to traders that the mega-refinery’s operations could soon potentially shake up regional fuel markets.
A report by Bloomberg on Tuesday, quoting data sourced from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, a port report, and ship-tracking platform, said 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.
The report said a CL Jane Austen recently loaded more than 300,000 barrels from Dangote and sailed west.
Recall that last month, the chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Authority, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, said the country is 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.
The chairman of NPA, Ghana, 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,” Hamid said.
Similarly, The PUNCH exclusively reported two weeks ago that the refinery was set to begin fuel exports to South Africa, Angola, and Namibia.
It added that four other African countries – Niger Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Central Africa Republic – had also started negotiations with the refinery.
A highly credible source, who confirmed this exclusively to one of our correspondents, 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 said.
The report further stated that 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, the Federal 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.
According to the report, a Dangote spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comments.