The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has started exporting refined petroleum products to neighboring West African countries, signaling that its operations could soon disrupt regional fuel markets.
According to reports citing data from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, and ship-tracking platforms, a tanker recently transported a shipment of gasoline from the Dangote refinery to waters off the coast of Togo. The vessel, named CL Jane Austen, loaded over 300,000 barrels from Dangote and sailed westward.
Last month, the chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Authority, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, mentioned that Ghana is considering importing petroleum products from Dangote’s refinery to help reduce the country’s monthly $400 million fuel import bill from Europe. Abdul-Hamid highlighted that purchasing from Nigeria would lower the costs of goods and services by eliminating freight charges.
The shipment is currently floating off the coast of Lome, Togo, a common site for ship-to-ship transfers, though it remains uncertain where the cargo will eventually be delivered. While the shipment is relatively small in the global gasoline market, it marks a significant step in the refinery’s production ramp-up and signals the potential for larger-scale exports that could disrupt regional fuel markets.
The Dangote refinery made its first seaborne gasoline shipment last month to Lagos, and although the Nigerian government has ended the state-owned oil company’s monopoly on buying fuel from the plant for domestic use, it continues to allow the importation of fuel from Europe and the US. A spokesperson for Dangote did not respond to requests for comments.
