The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has expanded its crude sourcing strategy by importing two cargoes of crude oil from the United Arab Emirates, marking its first-ever purchase of Middle Eastern crude.
According to S&P Global Commodity Insights, the development represents a significant shift in the refinery’s feedstock sourcing as it seeks alternative supplies due to continued constraints in domestic crude deliveries from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Although the 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery was built primarily to process Nigeria’s light sweet crude, it has increasingly diversified the types of crude it processes as production activities continue to scale up.
S&P Global stated that the refinery has been widening its crude portfolio in line with its objective of operating as a fully merchant refinery. The report noted that approximately 70 per cent of the refinery’s crude imports in 2025 came from Nigeria, while about 24 per cent were sourced from the United States.
NNPCL had previously committed to supplying between 13 and 15 cargoes of Nigerian crude each month under the naira-for-crude arrangement. The agreement, which allows payment in naira, was designed to reduce the refinery’s exposure to foreign exchange fluctuations.
Despite the arrangement, the refinery has continued to experience difficulties in securing sufficient volumes of crude from domestic sources.
Speaking earlier this year, Bird indicated that the refinery was looking to process more heavy crude grades in its operations. “We definitely want to heavy up the barrel,” Bird said in April.
Meanwhile, DAILY POST reports that global crude oil prices fell below $70 per barrel last week before rebounding on Monday following the latest strikes involving the United States and Iran, despite the conclusion of a peace agreement.
