Africa’s largest refinery, built by Aliko Dangote in Nigeria, is in talks with Libya and Angola to secure crude oil supplies.
This comes after the refinery struggled to obtain sufficient domestic crude due to theft, pipeline damage, and low investment in Nigeria, despite the country being Africa’s biggest oil producer.
The Dangote refinery, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, was designed to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on imported fuels.
However, since starting operations in January, the refinery has been forced to import crude from faraway locations like Brazil and the United States.
“We are discussing crude imports with Libya,” said a senior Dangote refinery executive, Devakumar Edwin. “Angola is also on our list, along with other African countries.”
While details of the talks remain confidential, Edwin revealed that international traders and oil companies are major buyers of Dangote’s gasoil, a product of the refining process, with much of it being exported.
The report also mentions a clash between the Nigerian upstream regulator and Dangote regarding the sulfur content in their gasoil, exceeding the set limit.
Dangote has refuted these claims, stating the levels have significantly decreased and will continue to improve as production ramps up.
