Africa’s largest and Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery is set to diversify its source of crude oil by importing from Trafigura Group of the United States, Bloomberg reports.
This is the first time, since after its inauguration last year, that the refinery would purchase non-Nigerian crude.
According to traders who have knowledge of the deal, Trafigura Group sold two million barrels of WTI Midland to Dangote refinery for delivery at the end of February delivery.
The petrochemical company had recently received the fourth crude shipment of one million barrels of bonny light crude supplied by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC) and is expecting the fifth crude shipment, anytime from now.
The fresh one million barrels of crude was the fourth 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.
It would be recalled that Dangote Refinery had earlier, received three million barrels of crude.
Managing director of Dangote Ports Operations, Akin Omole, told newsmen at the Dangote Quay, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos that the Refinery will receive about four million crude shipment before the end of 2023 and the remaining two by the early of January 2024.
He said, the crudes supply would put the Refinery in good stead to commence operation. The company stated, once the six million barrels are fully delivered, it will facilitate the initial run of the refinery as well as kick-start the production of diesel, aviation fuel, and LPG before subsequently progressing to the production of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
