The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is set to supply four crude oil cargoes to the Dangote refinery from its February program, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Dangote refinery, a $20 billion project poised to commence operations after experiencing construction delays, is expected to receive these crude oil cargoes next month.
The Dangote refinery, anticipated to be Africa’s largest refinery, has stated that it could initiate test runs as early as this week, having already received six initial crude cargoes. Currently, Nigeria relies heavily on imports for its fuel consumption. However, with the Dangote refinery becoming operational, the country aims to achieve self-sufficiency and potentially export fuel to neighboring West African countries, bringing a significant transformation to oil trading in the Atlantic Basin.
Sources indicate that NNPC will supply the 650,000-barrel-per-day plant with four crude oil cargoes in February. The refinery has received one million barrels of Nigeria’s Agbami crude, bringing the total volumes received since December to six million barrels. While the refinery is also exploring crude supplies from other countries, NNPC has reportedly nominated four cargoes for February.
Edwin Devakumar, the Group Executive Director for Strategy, Portfolio Development, and Capital Projects at Dangote, mentioned that the refinery did not request cargoes from NNPC for January. He explained, “We are starting the refinery, and if we continue to line up cargoes, our inventory will build up as well as costs. If everything goes well, we will run for 8-10 days of operation, and then we will begin to line up cargoes.”
While the refinery is set to initiate its operations, NNPC aims to wait for the plant’s test runs before sending more oil. The initial processing capacity is expected to reach 350,000 barrels per day, with plans to ramp up to full capacity by the end of the year, as outlined by Dangote officials.
