Vitol, Sunoco take first US-bound cargo from Nigeria’s Dangote refinery - Alexandr Popadin Unsplash

Vitol, Sunoco take first US-bound petrol cargo from Nigeria’s Dangote refinery

NEW YORK, September 16, 2025 – Global oil trading firm Vitol and US fuel distributor Sunoco have taken delivery of the first petrol cargo imported into the US from Nigeria’s Dangote refinery, Reuters reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Vitol is said to have purchased the 320,000-barrel cargo from Geneva-based Mocoh Oil and sold most of it to Sunoco. According to sources and ship-tracking data consulted by Reuters, the fuel was delivered to Sunoco’s Linden facility in New York Harbour aboard the Gemini Pearl tanker.

The transaction is significant because it indicates that Dangote’s output has begun to meet the stringent motor fuel standards of the US market. The refinery exported its first fuel cargoes – 65,000 tonnes of low-sulphur fuel oil and 60,000 tonnes of naphtha – in February 2024 and began processing petrol in September 2024.

It was not clear how much fuel Vitol sold to Sunoco and how much of the cargo the trading firm decided to keep. Vitol, Sunoco and Mocoh Oil did not immediately comment on the transaction.

Reuters’s sources also spoke of a second petrol cargo from Dangote, purchased by trading firm Glencore and sold to Shell, that is expected to arrive in New York Harbour around September 19 aboard the vessel MH Daisen. Glencore declined to comment on the deal, and Shell did not immediately respond.

A third reported cargo, also purchased by Vitol from Mocoh Oil, is said to be arriving in New York around September 22 aboard the Seaexplorer. The sources behind the reports noted that the final destination of all the undelivered cargoes could potentially change based on market conditions.

Photo by Alexandr Popadin

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