Dangote Refinery isn’t having it. After reports surfaced claiming the company imported dirty, high-sulphur petrol into Nigeria, management fired back hard, calling the accusations false and deliberately misleading.
Here’s what actually happened, according to them: the cargo everyone’s talking about isn’t finished petrol at all.
It’s an intermediate feedstock, basically raw material that still needs processing before it becomes the fuel you pump into your car.
“The cargo in question is an intermediate feedstock, not finished petrol, and will be fully refined in our units to meet Nigerian and international quality standards,” the refinery explained in a statement released Friday.
Dangote pointed out that processing different grades of crude oil and semi-finished products is standard practice for any serious refinery worldwide.
It’s how they maintain quality and keep production running smoothly.
Operating in a Free Trade Zone, the refinery stressed that everything they sell meets regulatory specs, not just in Nigeria, but in places like the United States and Europe, where fuel standards are notoriously strict.
If they’re shipping to those markets, they argued, clearly they know what they’re doing.
They also mentioned that every import comes with quality certificates shared with regulators, and they’re willing to make those documents public if needed.
“We remain committed to advancing Nigeria’s energy independence, upholding the highest standards of quality and transparency, and delivering cleaner fuels for Nigeria and beyond,” they said.
So what exactly was in that shipment? The documents tell the story.
The cargo, officially called High-Sulphur Catalytic Gasoline (FCC Gasoline), was loaded at the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery in the UK on September 21, 2025, and shipped to Nigeria aboard a vessel called Clearocean Marigold.
A quality certificate from Phillips 66, dated September 23, confirmed the product was “clear and bright,” free of water or junk, with gasoline-like properties including an octane rating of 92.3 (RON) and 79.3 (MON).
The sulphur content tested at 690 ppm, way above the 50 ppm limit allowed for retail petrol in most countries.
But Dangote insists that’s the whole point. This stuff was never meant to go straight into someone’s tank.
It’s a blending component that gets cleaned up and desulfurized during the refining process before becoming the final product.
