Dangote Refinery commenced the supply of petroleum products to the local market on Tuesday, Reuters reported, quoting the Executive Director of the Dangote Group, Devakumar Edwin.
The development was also confirmed by leaders of some petroleum marketers’ associations.
“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, the president of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), said the local oil marketers agreed on a price of 1,225 naira ($0.96) per litre of diesel following a bulk purchase agreement, before putting their mark-up.
He added that the association’s members control about 150,000 retail stations across Nigeria.
Meanwhile, smaller depots and petroleum marketers are said to be seeking letters of credit to buy petroleum products 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.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery had earlier in January commenced production of diesel and aviation fuel.
Announcing the commencement in a statement, the company said the refinery had received six million barrels of crude oil at its two SPMs located 25 kilometres from the shore.
The first crude delivery was done on 12 December 2023, and the 6th cargo was delivered on 8 January.
The first cargo that arrived at the plant was from Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), one of the largest trading companies in Nigeria and globally, trading over 8 million barrels of crude oil daily.
The company made a further move towards the commencement of the production of refined petroleum products with the receipt of an additional one million barrels of bonny light crude supplied by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC Ltd).
The fresh one million barrels of crude from the Shell terminal via the MT Otis owned by Trafigural is the second consignment to be delivered to the Dangote facility out of the six million barrels of crude being expected by the world’s largest single-train refinery.
