Nigeria’s Dangote refinery is taken delivery of more than three million barrels of American crude since the start of the month.
The refinery has also made purchases closer home, importing a shipment of Angola’s Pazflor grade and a cargo of Algeria’s Saharan Blend from Glencore Plc in recent weeks.
The giant facility near Lagos has been boosting processing rates since it started up early last year but has yet to reach full capacity. Still, run rates appear to be increasing so far this month, according an analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd.
“Crude deliveries in the last two weeks have averaged 450,000 barrels a day, and our satellite monitoring shows a recent draw in crude stocks at the refinery, indicating runs are likely on the rise,” said Randy Hurburun, senior refinery analyst at the consultancy. The researcher estimates that runs averaged 380,000 barrels per day over January and February.
At full tilt, Dangote could run at 650,000 barrels a day, making it the largest oil refinery in Africa by far and dwarfing any of Europe’s plants. The refinery has already trimmed a glut of Nigerian crude and transformed the nation’s fuel imports.
Even as overseas purchases are increasing, the refinery runs mostly on local feedstock, taking in more than ten million barrels of Nigerian crude last month, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Nigerian government is in talks with Dangote to extend a contract to sell it crude in the local currency. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. said it has supplied 48 million barrels since the agreement started in October.
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