Second WTI cargo heads for Nigeria’s Dangote mega-refinery

A second WTI oil cargo is on its way to Nigeria’s newly commissioned 650,000-bpd Dangote Refinery, Argus reported on Tuesday.

The Suezmax Otis is expected to reach Dangote on March 13 with a cargo of West Texas Intermediate Midland from the Enterprise terminal in Houston, Texas, Argus said, citing data from Kpler.

The Dangote refining and petrochemicals complex, located near Lagos in the Lekki Free Zone, was inaugurated in May 2023. It received its first cargo, 1 million barrels sourced from the Chevron-led Agbami project near the Niger Delta, in December.

The refinery’s first WTI cargo was expected to arrive March 2 on the Gem No.1 VLCC.

The identity of the cargoes’ suppliers remained unclear, but Trafigura has been named as a potential seller.

A source speculated to Argus that the refinery could be sampling different types of crude and engaging different partners ahead of signing a long-term offtake agreement.

Ranking as Africa’s largest refinery and the world’s largest single-train facility, the Dangote Refinery will meet 100% of the Nigerian requirement for refined products and have a surplus of each of its products for export.

Its yearly output includes 10.4 million tonnes of petrol, 4.6 million tonnes of diesel and 4 million tonnes of Jet A-1. The complex’s urea fertiliser plant has a capacity of almost 3 million tonnes per year.