Nigeria’s 700,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Dangote Petroleum Refinery reduced its crude oil imports to 499,000 bpd in August 2026—a five-month low—following an inventory buildup triggered by slowed operational run rates.
The import curtailment follows maintenance and repair work on the facility’s Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC), which forced the refinery’s primary crude distillation unit (CDU) to run at approximately 50% capacity during parts of July.
According to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), overall Dangote Refinery’s July utilization averaged 71% (497,000 bpd), trailing the 574,000 bpd brought in during the same month and generating a storage backlog.
With the RFCC repairs completed and the CDU restored to full operational capacity, industry analysts expect crude intake to rebound sharply in September.
Crude imports should go back up this month, said Randy Hurburun, a senior refinery analyst at Energy Aspects. Dangote has flexibility to optimize its crude buying given the strong refining margins available, he added.
Takeaways & Forward Outlook
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Product Output Squeeze: The temporary utilization drop in July restricted finished product supply, with gasoline output falling 33.8% from 39.1 million liters per day in June to 25.9 million liters per day in July. Aviation fuel output also dipped to 15.6 million liters per day, temporarily slowing seaborne export momentum to European markets.
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September Crude Supply Rebound: The import pullback is not expected to persist. Dangote has already contracted approximately 20 million barrels of crude for September arrival across domestic allocations (via the Federal Government’s Naira-for-Crude framework) and global spot tenders (WTI, Guyanese, and Brazilian grades).
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Processing Margins Strategy: With strong complex refining margins across West Africa, Energy Aspects projects import inflows to return to near peak levels in September to support both domestic PMS distribution and international fuel off-take.
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