The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has imported its first-ever crude oil cargoes from the United Arab Emirates as it seeks to diversify its sources of feedstock amid continued challenges in securing adequate domestic supply from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
According to a report by S&P Global Commodity Insights, the refinery purchased two cargoes of UAE crude, marking its first procurement from the Middle East. The development comes as the facility broadens its crude supply network while increasing production capacity.
Although the refinery was built mainly to process Nigeria’s light sweet crude, it has steadily expanded the variety of crude grades it can refine as operations scale up.
S&P Global said the refinery is widening its crude slate in line with its objective of operating as a fully merchant refinery. The report noted that about 70 per cent of the refinery’s crude imports in 2025 came from Nigeria, while 24 per cent were sourced from the United States.
The NNPCL had previously committed to supplying between 13 and 15 cargoes of Nigerian crude every month under the naira-for-crude arrangement, a deal aimed at reducing the refinery’s dependence on foreign exchange.
Despite the agreement, however, the refinery has continued to experience difficulties obtaining sufficient domestic crude supplies.
Earlier this year, Bird disclosed plans to increase the proportion of heavier crude grades in the refinery’s feedstock mix.
> “We definitely want to heavy up the barrel,” Bird said in April.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices, which fell below $70 per barrel last week, began climbing again on Monday following renewed tensions involving the United States and Iran, despite the conclusion of a peace agreement.
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