Lomé Offshore Gasoline Prices Tumble as Nigeria Delays Oil Import Licenses

The offshore gasoline market at Lomé, Togo—the primary floating storage and transshipment hub for West Africa—is seeing a sharp decline in values as a bottleneck in Nigerian import permits leaves dozens of tankers stranded in international waters.

Differentials for gasoline clips trading in the Offshore Lome market have fallen sharply amid a delay in Nigerian import permits and a price cut at the Dangote refinery.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the gasoline STS Lome price at a $30/mt premium to January Eurobob swaps and a flat price of $633.25/mt Dec. 23 — down from $69.25/mt Dec. 1.

Because Nigeria is the region’s largest consumer, any administrative delay in clearing cargoes into its domestic market causes a massive supply build-up at the “waiting room” in Lomé.

With storage vessels unable to discharge, traders are forced to discount their “offshore” prices to attract alternative buyers or cover mounting demurrage costs.

When the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) delays the issuance or processing of import permits, vessels arriving from Northwest Europe cannot proceed to Nigerian ports (Lagos, Port Harcourt, or Warri).

These vessels then wait at the Lomé offshore anchorage. As more tankers arrive, the “floating inventory” increases. High supply with a “blocked” primary demand source (Nigeria) naturally pushes the spot value of those specific cargoes down.

This delay comes at a sensitive time. The Dangote Refinery has been ramping up production, and the market is currently navigating a complex transition between imported supply and domestic refining, leading to periodic regulatory friction.

Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, made a bombshell allegation against the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Engr. Farouk Ahmed, stating that he spent $5 million on school fees for his children in Switzerland and is also engaged in economic sabotage against Nigeria, by approving massive petrol imports.

The NMDPRA regulates one of the Dangote Group’s major businesses, the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos.

Mr. Farouk Ahmed, later resigned.

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