Dangote refinery to export 10ppm diesel in June

Nigeria's 650,000 b/d Dangote refinery will start exporting diesel conforming to European specifications along with gasoline sales in June, its vice president for oil and gas Devakumar Edwin has said.

"We expect before the end of next month we'll also have gasoline in the market, and we'll also have Euro V diesel for export, that is below 10ppm", Edwin said this week at a Society of Petroleum Engineers event in Lagos.

Dangote chief executive Aliko Dangote reiterated the planned June start for gasoline on 17 May.

Dangote started its crude distillation unit in January, and received approval to start up a mild hydrocracker with its desulphurisation units in March. A source at Nigeria's downstream regulator NMDPRA said the refinery has now received approval to start its residual fluid catalytic cracker.

Dangote started naphtha exports in March, low-sulphur straight run fuel oil (LSSR) exports in May and began selling diesel and jet fuel domestically in April. It has a waiver from NMDPRA to sell diesel with sulphur levels above 600ppm into the local market.

At full capacity Dangote will be able to more than meet Nigerian domestic gasoline demand. But a trader in the region said gasoline production is unlikely to start next month, citing the amount of cargoes to be delivered to the country. Exports of naphtha, a key blending component in finished-grade gasoline, are continuing from the refinery, with 80,000t due to load on 31 May according to Kpler.

And Edwin hinted at a slowing of spot sales.

"We had a meeting to see, probably, how we can slow down our sales because we've already made quite a few forward bookings," he said this week. "Export, for example, aviation/jet, the last vessel went to the Caribbean islands. The next vessel, we are booking for US market."

Dangote recently added TotalEnergies as a buyer in a deal that could see the French company take refined products for its African network of 4,800 retail fuel stations, including more than 540 in Nigeria.

The deal could also see the oil major supply crude to the refinery. A source told Argus there is a deal for TotalEnergies to supply two crude cargoes each month, or around 2mn bl. Indications based on the refinery's slate to date and TotalEnergies' Nigerian crude equity suggest one cargo of the very light Amenam blend one of Bonny Light.

By Adebiyi Olusolape and George Maher-Bonnett