Dangote Refinery has supplied about 79.4 million litres of petrol by sea to the local market, marking a significant boost to Nigeria’s domestic fuel supply.
The vessel, Sabaek, recently carried about 500,000 barrels (79.4 million litres) of petrol from the refinery to Lagos, according to a port report and ship-tracking data from Bloomberg.
This initial seaborne shipment follows about a month of the refinery distributing petrol by trucks.
The Vice President of (Oil & Gas) at Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, had earlier said in a statement that the refinery will transport 75% of its local petroleum product supply via sea routes, targeting key locations like Warri, Port Harcourt, and Calabar.
He said products for Calabar, Port Harcourt, Warri, Apapa, and Atlas will primarily move by sea, with road transport reserved for urgent needs, easing pressure on road infrastructure and cutting transhipment costs.
“We have both exporting facilities by sea and by road. 75% of the production can be evacuated through sea. In fact, now we are ramping up to make it even 100%.
“Anything going to Calabar, Port Harcourt, Warri, Apapa, Atlas can all be taken through the sea. So only what is imminently required by road can be taken.
“But I also have the facility to load 83% of my production also through road. We have just built-in flexibility but we can avoid all traffic congestion on the road by evacuating through sea and it will also bring down the cost of transshipment,” Edwin explained.
At the same time, the refinery’s residue fluid catalytic cracker, a critical unit for fuel production, is still ramping up operations, according to a source familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because the information is private.
What you should know
Dangote Refinery, with the capacity to load 40 PMS tankers simultaneously in 40 minutes and manage up to 2,900 trucks daily, poses a significant risk of traffic congestion along the Lekki-Epe corridor, prompting a shift towards sea transportation.
Given the influx of tankers from the refinery and other establishments within the Lagos Free Trade Zone, the Lagos State Government has implemented several measures to mitigate potential traffic challenges.
Transporting petroleum products by sea would not only reduce road congestion but also cut costs for the refinery, enhancing production capacity to meet domestic market demand.
So far, the refinery has supplied products locally, supporting the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) in managing demand pressures amid its high debt obligations to international oil traders.