The Dangote refinery has a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels of crude per day.
- Domestic petrol supply in Nigeria climbed 39% in August to 35.9 million litres per day.
- <a href="https://absafricatv.com/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/” title=”NGOs call on Vantara to end all wild animal imports permanently”>Imports fell 26% to 14.6 million litres daily, leaving locally refined petrol with roughly 71% of total receipts.
- Dangote refinery accounted for virtually all recorded domestic petrol supply during the month.
- The figures show how Africa’s largest refinery is rapidly changing a market that relied heavily on imported fuel for decades.
Nigeria received an average of 35.9 million litres per day of domestically produced petrol during the month, compared with just 14.6 million litres per day imported from overseas, according to August data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Domestic petrol receipts jumped 39% from 25.8 million litres per day in July, while imports fell 26% from 19.7 million litres.
That left domestic production accounting for about 71% of Nigeria’s total petrol receipts in August, with imports supplying roughly 29%.
Almost all the locally supplied fuel came from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
The 650,000-barrel-per-day plant supplied an average of 35.87 million litres of petrol daily to the Nigerian market, according to the regulator’s figures.
The numbers represent another significant change in Nigeria’s fuel market since the $20 billion refinery began producing petrol.
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Nigeria is Africa’s biggest crude producer but spent decades exporting crude oil and importing much of the petrol, diesel and other refined products consumed domestically because of inadequate local refining capacity.
Dangote’s entry has started dismantling that model. Total petrol receipts increased 11% in August to 50.5 million litres per day from 45.5 million litres in July, even as imports declined.
The refinery also exported an average of 9.73 million litres of petrol per day during the month, according to figures reported from the regulator’s August factsheet.
The export figure is important because it shows Dangote is simultaneously expanding its presence in Nigeria and supplying foreign markets.
The August numbers also arrive after months of tension between the refinery and petroleum-product importers over the continued inflow of foreign petrol.
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Dangote has argued that large-scale imports make it harder for domestic refineries to operate at full capacity, while marketers have maintained that access to imports is necessary to preserve competition and supply security.
Nigeria’s fuel market is changing
Petrol consumption, measured by volumes trucked into the domestic market, fell 14% to 41.5 million litres per day in August from 48.3 million litres in July.
Nigeria also received more crude for domestic refining. Crude receipts by domestic refineries increased 17% to 683,000 barrels per day in August from 585,000 barrels in July.
Between January and August, the country’s refineries received 137.98 million barrels of feedstock, with domestic crude accounting for almost 80% of the total.
Diesel imports showed an even sharper decline, falling 84% to 1.3 million litres per day in August.
The figures strengthen evidence that Nigeria’s fuel market is moving away from the import-heavy structure that dominated for years.
For Dangote, the transition is also giving Africa’s largest refinery something it needs as production increases, a large domestic market alongside a growing export business.
