Dangote refinery ships 1.7m barrels of jet fuel to US

Dangote Petroleum Refinery has shipped six vessels carrying about 1.7 million barrels of jet fuel, also known as aviation fuel, to the United States (US) in March.

The refinery announced in a statement on Tuesday.

Citing data from Kpler, a ship tracking service, another vessel, Hafnia Andromeda, is set to arrive at the Everglades terminal, one of the US ports, on March 29, with a load of about 348,000 barrels of jet fuel.

“This shipment to the United States follows three cargoes of jet fuel, totalling around 130 million litres, exported from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery,” the statement reads.

“The refinery has already demonstrated its ability to compete with European refiners on gasoline (PMS) exports, and these jet fuel shipments to the United States could challenge the economics of domestic producers in the world’s largest fuel-consuming nation.”

‘JET FUEL PRICES EXPECTED TO REDUCE’

According to the statement, Steven Barsamian, chief operating officer of TankTiger, said the “surge in demand, partly driven by the influx of supply from Nigeria, is expected to lower jet fuel prices in the US ahead of the peak summer travel season”.

Barsamian also said trade analysts and storage brokers have projected US jet fuel imports from Dangote refinery to decrease aviation fuel prices during this period.

The expert also said US jet fuel imports in March have “averaged around 226,000 bpd, the highest since February 2023, underlining the global demand for products from Dangote Refinery”.

On his part, Muda Yusuf, economist and chief executive officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), said the export of jet fuel to the United States by Dangote refinery is a point of pride for Nigeria.

He highlights the quality, standards, and trust that the international community places in the refinery.

“Nothing could be more prideful for us as a country than the fact that we now have a refinery producing products that can be exported to the United States,” Yusuf said.

“It speaks to the quality, standards, and trust that international communities have in Dangote Refinery, because these are markets that don’t compromise on quality.

“They have stringent standards, and if they deem it worthy to import from Nigeria, it is a source of great pride.”

The former director-general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) also emphasised that Dangote refinery is enhancing Nigeria’s position on the global stage and should be supported by both citizens and the government.

“That is why all of us—citizens and the government—should do everything to support the refinery, as it is breaking many barriers and boosting our country’s reputation,” he said.

“The lesson here is that we should support the Dangote Refinery and other refineries with similar capacities, as they can provide us with significant leverage.”

Abimbola Oyarinu, public policy expert, said the Nigerian economy would be in a better state today if the country had functional refineries in the past, rather than just exporting crude oil while importing refined petroleum products. 

“This is something that should have been addressed since 2014. Things wouldn’t have reached this point—such as high inflation and unemployment—if we had a functioning refinery,” Oyarinu said.

“However, both the government and the people failed to take action until Dangote stepped in with significant investment.

“The Dangote refinery is not only reducing foreign exchange outflow, but it is also bringing in foreign exchange. It is unfortunate that despite this, some elites and those in power are still intent on sabotaging the refinery and Dangote himself.”

The university lecturer also warned that the lack of ease in doing business and the frustration of local investments could discourage future investors. 

“This is something the country should be proud of,” he added.

On March 19, the refinery announced that it is temporarily halting the sale of petroleum products in naira.

Dangote refinery said it will stop loading petroleum products for the Nigerian market as the renegotiation for the naira-for-crude deal is not recording significant progress.

Earlier this month, the 650,000 bpd facility reportedly received one million barrels of crude oil from Algeria — between March 15 and March 20.