S&P Global: Dangote Refinery delivers first petrol cargo to United States

Dangote Refinery has made its first-ever gasoline shipment to the United States, according to a report by S&P Global, a market intelligence firm.

According to the firm, this marks a new milestone for the refinery, demonstrating its growing influence beyond Africa.

The shipment, comprising 300,000 barrels of gasoline, departed Nigeria on August 26 and is expected to arrive in New York and New Jersey on September 12.

“Three market sources confirmed that the ship loaded gasoline from the port, marking the inaugural export of the motor fuel to the US market.

“The delivery was agreed under a private bilateral deal, sources said, contrasting with previous open market tenders issued by Dangote for other products like residual fuel,” the report stated.

This international export is happening even as Nigerian fuel marketers continue to import gasoline into the country, despite the Dangote refinery’s massive 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity.

Since commencing operations in 2024, the refinery has sought to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on fuel imports.

S&P Global, however, noted that “as a privately run business, the Dangote Group has shown an appetite to diversify its consumer base and commercially optimise its trade flows.”

Dangote Group President Aliko Dangote has stated his goal is to make Nigeria and the African continent self-sufficient in energy and turn Nigeria into a net exporter of petroleum products.

However, some local petroleum traders are worried that Dangote is attempting to monopolise the market and insist that fuel importation must continue.

While the Dangote refinery has already begun supplying international markets, including countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, Nigeria’s reliance on imported fuel remains high.

According to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, out of the 1.48 billion litres of gasoline supplied in June, only a fraction came from the Dangote refinery, with the rest being imported.

Reacting to the situation, the National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, as reported by Punch, said that marketers prioritise their profit margins.

He explained that if buying from the Dangote refinery would give importers “a better deal, obviously, they will want to import from there.

But if buying from the refinery does not give them that leverage, then they are free to import from whichever source, as long as the qualities are not compromised.”

Gillis-Harry described the export to the U.S. as a “very, very welcome idea because then it means that it will be another source of foreign exchange that will count in our balance of trade.”