Dangote Refinery Production: Dangote Registers Major Oil Marketer Associations as Official Distributors
The recently operational Dangote Petroleum Refinery has confirmed the registration of three prominent oil marketer associations in Nigeria as its official diesel and jet fuel distributors. The refinery, owned by billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote, announced on Tuesday that leading marketer groups – Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) – have signed on to distribute Dangote’s refined petroleum outputs across the country.
Collectively, the three registered associations account for around 75% of Nigeria’s total petroleum marketing sector. The 650,000 barrel-per-day capacity refinery, located near Lagos, officially began production of diesel and aviation fuel last week after receiving the required crude oil feedstock. Dangote executives hailed the registration of the high-profile oil associations, stating they are still in talks with additional marketers interested in partnering on Dangote Petroleum’s distribution network.
Last Friday marked a major operational milestone for Africa’s largest oil refining facility. After several years of construction and testing, the $19 billion refinery complex received its sixth one million barrel shipment of crude oil courtesy of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC). This influx of feedstock allowed the refinery to commence initial diesel and jet fuel production – the first major refined outputs from the site.
Dangote indicated that first batches of diesel and aviation fuel would hit the Nigerian market later this month after securing regulatory body approvals. Eventual commencement of gasoline production would also significantly boost Nigeria’s fuel self-sufficiency and reduce costly import expenditures when it comes online.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the landmark refinery project in May 2023. However, Dangote Refinery Production has not specified a firm timeline for commercial production of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and other outputs to officially begin. Registration of the three oil marketer consortiums is an encouraging signal that refined petroleum from the Dangote complex will soon flow to Nigerian consumers nationwide.
In a related economic development, Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is set to release December 2023 inflation figures next Monday and weekly pricing data on various fuel types. Yearly inflation reached 28.2% in November, driven higher by food, housing and energy price spikes. But the World Bank projects inflation could moderate this year as Nigeria’s 2023 foreign exchange reforms and fuel subsidy phase-out measures take hold.
The Bretton Woods institution expects these pivotal structural changes to also boost government revenue collection and possibly return per capita income levels to pre-pandemic levels by 2025. With Africa’s largest economy facing economic hardship, launch of full-scale operations at Dangote Refinery and taming runaway inflation this year offers optimism for improved prosperity in Nigeria.
Source Dangote refinery registers three oil marketers associations Originally published in Punch.