Akoni TV For your Socio-Politcial, Business, Sport and Entertainment News
Related Articles
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has officially commenced the export of refined petroleum products to neighboring West African countries, signaling a potential shakeup in regional fuel markets. According to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, citing data from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, and ship-tracking platforms, a tanker recently transported gasoline from the refinery to Togo’s waters.
The report detailed that the tanker, CL Jane Austen, loaded over 300,000 barrels from the Dangote Refinery and sailed west, marking a significant milestone in the refinery’s operations.
Last month, Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority Chairman, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, revealed plans to source petroleum products from Dangote Refinery to reduce the country’s dependency on expensive European imports. Speaking at the OTL Africa Downstream Oil Conference in Lagos, Abdul-Hamid emphasized that this shift could help Ghana cut monthly import costs of $400 million and reduce prices of goods and services by lowering freight costs.
“If the refinery reaches its 650,000 barrels per day capacity, Nigeria alone cannot consume all that volume. Importing from Nigeria instead of Rotterdam will significantly reduce our prices,” Abdul-Hamid explained.
Two weeks ago, the Dangote Refinery is set to export fuel to South Africa, Angola, and Namibia. Negotiations with four other African countries—Niger Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic—are also underway.
A reliable source confirmed the advanced stages of talks with Ghana, Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, while initial discussions are ongoing with Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic. The source added that shipments are now floating off the coast of Lomé, Togo, a hotspot for ship-to-ship fuel transfers.
The ultimate destination of the CL Jane Austen’s cargo remains unclear. Though currently near Togo, the shipment may undergo transfers and be transported elsewhere.
While the current shipment is small in the context of global gasoline markets, it marks a significant step in ramping up Dangote’s production and could pave the way for exporting substantial volumes beyond Nigeria, potentially disrupting regional fuel markets.
The refinery shipped its first seaborne gasoline cargo to Lagos last month. However, whether large quantities of its gasoline output will be exported in the future remains uncertain.
Notably, the Federal Government recently ended the state-owned oil company’s monopoly on purchasing fuel from the refinery for domestic use, allowing continued fuel importation from Europe and the US under regulatory guidelines.
