The Dangote Petroleum Refinery plans to increase crude oil imports to sustain operations, as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) struggles to meet its fuel production requirements. Despite a $20 billion investment and a 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) capacity, the refinery currently relies on imported crude to fill supply gaps.
Officials at the Lekki-based refinery revealed that production has reached 500,000 bpd, with a target of hitting full capacity by June 2025. However, the NNPC is reportedly supplying only 350,000 bpd, falling short of the 450,000 bpd allocated for domestic consumption under the naira-for-crude initiative introduced by President Bola Tinubu in 2024.
Sources within the refinery, speaking anonymously, confirmed that additional crude imports are essential to sustain operations.
“This is a 650,000 bpd refinery. We’re ramping up production and should reach full capacity by midyear.
The scale of operations requires sourcing crude oil from outside Nigeria,” one official stated.
Despite the NNPC’s efforts, the refinery’s size and complexity have necessitated imports.
A consultant to the refinery highlighted its global importance, saying, “This refinery is among the largest in the world and produces fuel of Euro 5 quality.
Its impact on Europe’s PMS market has even been noted by OPEC.”
The growing demand for crude oil by Nigeria’s refineries highlights the inadequacy of the current 450,000 bpd allocation. According to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Dangote and seven other refineries collectively require 770,500 bpd to meet production needs.
Here’s the breakdown of daily crude requirements for operational refineries:
- Dangote Refinery: 550,000 bpd
- Port Harcourt Refinery: 60,000 bpd
- Warri Refinery: 75,000 bpd
- Kaduna Refinery: 66,000 bpd
- Opac Refinery: 5,000 bpd
- Waltersmith Refinery: 4,500 bpd
- Duport Refinery: 2,000 bpd
- Edo Refinery: 1,000 bpd
The Federal Government plans to review the naira-for-crude program in April 2025 to evaluate its effectiveness as more refineries, including Port Harcourt and Warri, resume operations. In response to supply challenges, the Dangote refinery is constructing eight additional crude oil tanks, increasing its storage capacity by 41.67% to 3.4 billion liters.
“Importing crude requires larger stockpiles to ensure uninterrupted operations,” said Devakumar Edwin, Vice President of Oil and Gas Business at Dangote Industries. “Four tanks are already nearing completion.”
