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Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the 650,000-barrel-a-day plant owned by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, shipped at least 208,000 metric tons of petrol abroad in five cargoes between Oct. 30 and Nov. 6, as Africa's largest refinery sends more of its output overseas.
The cargoes were loaded on five tankers, the UM Balwa, NCC Qamar, Precious Balboa, UM Kiso and Fair Wonder, each carrying between 40,000 and 44,000 tons, according to vessel movement records. That is roughly 280 million liters of petrol.
Three of the vessels loaded a combined 128,000 tons on Oct. 30. The UM Balwa and Precious Balboa each took 44,000 tons bound for West Africa, while the NCC Qamar loaded 40,000 tons with no receiving country or port listed. The UM Kiso followed on Nov. 3 with 40,000 tons for the port of Tema in Ghana, and the Fair Wonder sailed on Nov. 6 with another 40,000 tons for West Africa.
Four of the five cargoes, totaling 168,000 tons, were assigned to West African markets. The refinery also exported jet fuel and diesel during the period, which are not part of the petrol total. The records do not name the buyers or the prices paid.
Exports pass home supply
The shipments follow a sharp turn toward foreign buyers. In September, the refinery's combined exports of petrol, diesel and jet fuel rose 37% from August to 54.63 million liters a day, overtaking its deliveries to the Nigerian market, according to the September fact sheet of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority. Domestic receipts of the three products fell 22% to 39.98 million liters a day.
Petrol exports alone climbed 59% to 15.47 million liters a day in September, though petrol remained the one product where home deliveries, at 28.5 million liters a day, stayed ahead of exports. Jet fuel drove the shift, with about 87% of the jet fuel the refinery sent out going abroad.
The refinery's combined output of the three fuels rose almost 16% to 97.67 million liters a day in September, the regulator said. National petrol receipts fell to 38.7 million liters a day against average daily consumption of 44.4 million liters.
Dangote's refinery heads to market
The export push comes as Dangote prepares to list the refinery in Lagos. Its initial public offering of 4.1 billion new shares at ₦525 each drew orders of about ₦6.4 trillion ($4.7 billion), roughly three times the ₦2.15 trillion ($1.58 billion) sought. At the offer price, the company is valued at about ₦65.2 trillion ($47.8 billion).
Dangote owned 87.27% of the refinery before the offer, a stake that would fall to about 84.4% if only the base offer is sold. Trading could start around Dec. 8, subject to approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Dangote, 69, built his fortune in cement, sugar and salt before spending more than a decade building the refinery in the Lekki Free Zone outside Lagos. He plans to expand its capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day by 2029. He is Africa's richest person.
Figures were converted at ₦1,365 to the dollar.
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