Having muscled through a few botched production deadlines it had set since its 2023 May commissioning, all it would take now before the Dangote Refinery can ship out its first light sweet crude produce is just fifteen days.

A tender to sell 65,000 metric tons of low-sulphur straight-run fuel oil had preceded this. That which has been awarded to commodities supplier, Trafigura, who has been mostly tight-lipped with journalists and refusing to give extra details.

What is certain according to the Reuters news agency’s exclusive with its sources is that the local market in Nigeria as soon as the end of 2024 February will be reaping the unmissable benefit of having the world’s largest single-train refinery situated in their country.

After 65,000 metric tons of low-sulphur straight-run fuel oil has shipped out, next will be 60,000 tons of liquid hydrocarbon mixture, Naphtha which is useful to cleaning services and plastic producers.

It is not known yet when the second cargo is destined for export, but two sources among three revealed to Reuters that a tender had been posted with a deadline set for Thursday, 15 February.

ALSO READ: Dangote refinery inches closer to starting test runs this week

The Dangote Refinery had to brush through so many hurdles to get to this milestone, mainly relating to the inability to access crude oil supply.

An arrangement to get supplies from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) was earlier not yielding fruit because the supplier had other commitments which led to the production start date dragging on forever.

Finally, the refinery received its first crude oil order from the NNPCL in December, which made up the second it had received towards the 6 million barrels needed to begin production at the plant. That was the build-up to four other supplies within a month after this.

With crude oil supplies to Dangote Refinery seeming like they have been sorted, next was the plant announcing on 23 January, the addition of three prominent associations, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, (IPMAN), and the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, (MOMAN) to its distribution circle.

An X platform tweet posted by the Dangote Group on 23 January, rightly summed up that adding the marketers constituted 75 percent of the total market in Nigeria and that has been the catch with the Lagos-based refinery.

DANGOTE PETROLEUM REFINERY REGISTERS MOMAN, IPMAN, AND DAPPMAN MEMBERS FOR PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTION
Three prominent associations, that constitute 75 percent of the total market in Nigeria have been registered. pic.twitter.com/uSnVI1u8r9

— Dangote Group (@DangoteGroup) January 23, 2024

Nigerians hope its performance will enable access to cheaper, reliable energy supply but it remains in doubt if that is going to happen.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.