Dangote Sells Refined Petrol Meant for Nigeria to International Market in Dollars

New details reveal that Dangote Refinery has signed a contract with Vitol to supply five cargoes, each containing 38,000 metric tonnes of refined petrol. One of these cargoes, transported by the tanker CL Jane Austen, was tracked by Bloomberg.

The refinery, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has disrupted the Nigerian government’s petrol supply strategy by selling refined fuel in dollars to foreign markets.

According to Bloomberg’s investigation, a tanker loaded with more than 300,000 barrels of fuel departed the refinery and is currently floating off the coast of Lome, Togo. This area is often used for ship-to-ship transfers, indicating the fuel could eventually be transported to other destinations.

The crude oil refined by Dangote was initially purchased in naira under a government-backed policy introduced in October. However, Bloomberg reports that the refinery has begun exporting fuel under a dollar-denominated agreement with Vitol despite benefiting from the naira-based crude oil supply.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to implement the naira-for-crude policy to support the domestic market. However, Dangote Refinery’s exports raise questions about whether significant volumes of its production will be available.

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