The Dangote Refinery is set to export a shipment of low-sulfur straight-run fuel oil (LSSR) from Nigeria to Singapore this week.
The information is based on ship tracking data and market sources, indicating that this is the first time Africa’s largest refinery is entering the Asian market.
The shipment initiates a new trade route from the new refinery to Aisa, which reportedly lacks the low-sulfur fuel oil required for powering ships at Singapore, the world’s largest bunker hub.
The $20 billion refinery can process about 650,000 barrels of petroleum products daily and is poised to be Africa’s largest and the world’s biggest single-train refinery when it reaches total capacity.
The refinery has been touted as the solution to Nigeria and Africa’s petroleum product imports, especially petrol.
Chairman of Dangote Industries Aliko Dangote promised that Nigeria would not need to import petrol when PMS production begins in mid-July.
Reports say the Dangote refinery has shored up its LSSR exports, sending shipments to the Americas and Europe, according to data from Kpler and Vortexa.
The first Asian-bound shipment will arrive on Wednesday, July 26, 2024, aboard the Glencore-chartered vessel Front Brage and will deliver about 124,000 metric tons of LSSR to Singapore.
Market sources say the cargo was redirected to Asia due to weaker European demand.
LSSR products from the Dangote refinery are priced against Rotterdam’s 0.5% LSFO quotes on a free-on-board basis. There is currently no pricing differential for the shipment.
Another LSSR shipment from the refinery, about 157,000 tons, is expected to reach Singapore in July aboard the Stena Suede vessel.
LSSR is always mixed with other fuels to create low-sulfur oil (LSFO) for bunkering or used as feedstock in various refinery processes.
The refinery began exporting petroleum products in February 2024 and bought crude oil from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) in December last year.
Dangote has expressed the frustration he encountered while building the 650,000 bpd-capacity plant.
He said the oil mafia in Nigeria tried to scuttle the refinery, but for the support he received from financial institutions such as Afreximbank and Access Bank.
TimesNow.com.ng earlier reported that modular refinery owners confirmed Dangote’s statement on Nigeria’s oil mafia, which wants to stop Nigeria from refining crude oil for petrol and other petroleum products.
The modular refinery operators state that they raised similar concerns on many occasions but received no feedback. They also state that the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, re-emphasized their stance last week.
TimesNow.com.ng previously reported that Dangote mentioned the oil mafia and their efforts to stop him from building Africa’s largest refinery.
Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at TimesNow.com.ng
