Dangote Refinery turns Nigeria into net crude importer with 10m barrels monthly
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said that his refinery imports between 9 and 10 million barrels of crude from the United States of America and other countries monthly, making the U.S. the net importer of the product to Nigeria.
He made this known during the ongoing West African Refined Fuel Conference in Abuja.
He, however, lauded the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited for making cargoes of Nigerian crude available to Dangote from the start of production to date.
He decried the heavy reliance on imports of refined petroleum products in Africa.
According to him, due to Africa’s limited domestic refining capacity, the continent imports over 120 million tonnes of refined petroleum products annually, at a cost of approximately $90 billion.
This comes as Dangote lamented dependence on importation in Africa, saying the continent has become a dumping ground for cheap and substandard petroleum products.
“As we speak today, we buy 9–10 million barrels of crude monthly from the U.S. and other countries. I must thank NNPC for making some cargoes of Nigerian crude available to us from the start of production to date,” Africa’s richest man said.
In September last year, Dangote Refinery, with a 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity, began the rollout of petroleum products in Nigeria.
Reuters, citing EIA, said gross U.S. exports of crude to Nigeria touched 111,000 b/d in February 2025 and 169,000 b/d in March. Imports, which were at 133,000 b/d in January, dropped to 54,000 b/d and 72,000 b/d in February and March, respectively.
This comes despite Nigeria being the largest crude oil producer in Africa, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ latest data.
Recently, NNPCL said crude oil and condensate production was 1.68 million barrels per day in June, the highest in the last six months.
Dangote Refinery turns Nigeria into net crude importer with 10m barrels monthly
