The Dangote Refinery began supplying petroleum products to the local market on Tuesday, according to Reuters, citing Devakumar Edwin, Executive Director of the Dangote Group.
The development was also confirmed by representatives of some petroleum marketers’ organizations.
“We have substantial quantities. Products are being evacuated both by sea and road. Ships are lining up one after another to load diesel and aviation jet fuel. Ships load a minimum of 26 million litres, though we try to push for 37 million litres vessels, for ease of operations,” Mr Edwin was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Speaking on the sale of diesel into the local market, Abubakar Maigandi, president of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), stated that local oil marketers agreed on a price of 1,225 naira ($0.96) per litre of diesel after a bulk purchase agreement, before adding their markup.
He stated that the association’s members own over 150,000 retail outlets in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, smaller depots and gasoline marketers are reportedly looking for letters of credit to purchase petroleum goods from Dangote.
“Our members are discussing with banks and these talks have reached advanced stages, when we have our letters of credit, we will begin lifting products,” Femi Adewole, the association’s executive secretary, was quoted as saying.
In January, Dangote Petroleum Refinery started producing diesel and aviation fuels.
In a statement, the business announced that the refinery had received six million barrels of crude oil at its two SPMs, which are positioned 25 kilometers from shore.
The first crude delivery occurred on December 12, 2023, with the sixth cargo arriving on January 8, 2024.
The factory received its first shipment, Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), a major trading company in Nigeria and globally with a daily trading volume of over 8 million barrels.
The company received an additional one million barrels of bonny light crude from Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC Ltd), paving the way for refined petroleum product manufacturing.
The fresh one million barrels of crude from the Shell terminal via the Trafigural-owned MT Otis are the second consignment to be delivered to the Dangote facility out of the six million barrels of petroleum expected by the world’s largest single-train refinery.
