Dangote <a href="https://absafricatv.com/hes-the-petrol-that-gave-the-hate-train/” title=”"He's the petrol that gave the hate train!"”>Petroleum Refinery has reduced production after maintenance work disrupted operations at Africa’s largest refinery, curbing exports of refined fuel just months after the facility emerged as an increasingly important supplier to markets in Africa and Europe.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has reduced crude processing following maintenance work, lowering exports of refined petroleum products
- Maintenance work has reduced crude processing at Dangote Petroleum Refinery, lowering exports of petrol, diesel and jet fuel.
- Kpler says the refinery has been operating at about half the throughput of its crude distillation unit since July 10.
- The slowdown comes after months of record production that made the refinery an increasingly important supplier to Nigeria and overseas markets.
- Analysts expect output to recover by early August, although recurring maintenance remains a key operational risk.
According to commodity intelligence firm Kpler, crude processing at the 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery has fallen to between 350,000 and 400,000 barrels per day since July 10, prompting the firm to lower its July throughput forecast to about 450,000 barrels per day, from an earlier estimate of 650,000 barrels.
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The reduction follows maintenance involving the refinery’s Flue Gas Steam Generator (FGSG), a heat recovery system that has constrained operations across the plant.
Kpler said the latest disruption differs from previous outages because it is not directly linked to the refinery’s residue fluid catalytic cracker, which has historically been the facility’s main operational bottleneck.
The lower processing rates are expected to reduce July production by around 75,000 barrels per day of gasoline, 50,000 barrels per day of jet fuel and 40,000 barrels per day of gasoil, according to Kpler’s estimates.
The firm said seaborne exports of refined products have consequently fallen to their lowest level in three months.
Africa’s largest refinery has become a major supplier of petrol, diesel and jet fuel to Nigeria and international markets.BI Africa
The maintenance comes after the refinery significantly increased output in recent months. In June, Dangote processed close to 700,000 barrels per day during performance tests, exceeding its nameplate capacity after optimisation work increased effective capacity by about 10%.
That higher output helped transform the refinery into one of the Atlantic Basin’s fastest-growing suppliers of refined petroleum products.
Kpler noted that since March, Dangote has expanded exports of petrol, diesel and particularly jet fuel into Europe, helping fill supply gaps created by lower refinery exports from Russia and tighter product flows from parts of the Middle East.
As a result, any prolonged reduction in production now has implications beyond Nigeria’s domestic fuel market.
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The slowdown also comes at a sensitive time for Nigeria. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has previously said Dangote supplied about 90% of the country’s petrol in May, making the refinery central to domestic fuel availability and pricing.
Earlier this month, the refinery temporarily suspended naira-denominated truck loading before later resuming local currency sales after reviewing its pricing.
Despite the setback, analysts expect the disruption to be temporary.
Kpler said maintenance should be completed during the final week of July, allowing the crude distillation unit to return to full operating rates within days, while the refinery’s catalytic cracker is expected to reach between 80% and 90% utilisation by the first week of August.
Refinery throughput is forecast to recover to between 650,000 and 675,000 barrels per day through August and September if repairs proceed as expected.
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Even so, the consultancy cautioned that reliability remains the refinery’s biggest operational challenge.
Since production began, the catalytic cracker and related units have undergone repeated maintenance roughly every six to 10 weeks, raising questions about how consistently the facility can sustain high utilisation as it expands operations.
The operational performance will be closely watched as Dangote Refinery strengthens its finances ahead of a planned stock market listing. Last week, the company announced it had raised $2.5 billion through a private placement to support its growth strategy.
