Nigeria’s Dangote refinery, the largest in Africa and Europe, has successfully shipped its inaugural seaborne gasoline cargo as production continues to increase.
The tanker Sabaek recently departed with approximately 500,000 barrels of gasoline destined for Lagos, based on port reports and ship-tracking data from Bloomberg.
The refinery’s residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC), essential for fuel production, is also ramping up its output, according to an anonymous source familiar with the operations. Dangote’s representatives have not yet provided a comment.
Once fully operational, the 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery is expected to transform the regional gasoline market, significantly reducing the need for fuel imports from Europe to West Africa. It has already influenced crude oil flows by alleviating the surplus of Nigerian supply.
This first seaborne shipment follows approximately one month after the refinery began transporting gasoline via trucks.
The RFCC unit of the refinery plays a critical role in upgrading petroleum products into higher-value fuels like gasoline.
