Togo, Cameroon emerge as biggest buyers of Dangote’s fuels in July

Togo and Cameroon took the largest share of refined products shipped out of Dangote Petroleum Refinery in July, as the Nigerian plant widened its footprint across West and Central Africa while still meeting the bulk of its cargo commitments at home, BusinessDay’s findings has revealed.

A loading schedule obtained by Petroleumprice.ng, which covers the refinery’s marine terminal operations for the month, showed 44 cargoes moving through its jetties, a mix of petrol, diesel, jet fuel, gas oil grades and fuel oil bound for buyers ranging from Nigerian retailers to global trading houses including Trafigura, Vitol, Glencore, Shell Trading, BP, Aramco, Unipec and Moeve Trading.

Togo was the single busiest export market, taking five cargoes. The ST Amrah carried 44,000 metric tons of aviation turbine kerosene, followed by 44,000 tons of high sulphur gas oil on the Ardmore Seafox and 42,000 tons of jet fuel on the ST Helen. The Minerva Oceania loaded 38,000 tons of petrol, while the Torm Grace took the largest single parcel of the month for that market, 88,000 tons of automotive gas oil.

Cameroon came next with two cargoes, both high sulphur gas oil: 44,000 tons delivered to Limbe aboard the UM Balwa and a matching volume shipped to Douala on the Pinarello.
The refinery’s reach extended well beyond the immediate region. Abidjan received 43,903 tons of high sulphur gas oil via the SM Osprey, while further afield, Shell Haven in the U.K. took 44,000 tons of jet fuel aboard the Nave Atria.

Morocco’s Jorf Lasfar terminal absorbed two aviation-fuel cargoes, 44,000 tons on the Silver Euplecta and 40,000 tons on the Komorebi.

In the Gulf, the Apache lifted 90,000 tons of fuel oil out of the refinery bound for Aramco at Fujairah, one of the largest single liftings in the schedule. Genoa, Italy, took 42,000 tons of jet fuel on the Hellas Avatar, and a combined cargo of 41,949 tons of jet fuel aboard the Silver Gertrude was split across Benin, Ghana and Lomé.

Even with that spread of export activity, the domestic market continued to absorb the majority of the refinery’s output. Petrol cargoes dominated the schedule for Lagos, Warri, Port Harcourt and Calabar, led by two large liftings for Dangote’s own distribution arm, 100,000 tons on the Sabeak and 99,000 tons on the NY Maria. Ardova took 52,000 tons aboard the Mosunmola, and Bongas Global lifted 33,000 tons on the Bora.

A further run of cargoes between 16,000 and 38,000 tons went out to Rainoil, NIPCO, AA Rano, Eterna Plc, Prudent Energy, Masters Energy, Gulf Treasures and MEA Energy, underscoring how deeply the refinery’s output now threads through Nigeria’s marketer network.

Diesel liftings for the domestic market were similarly spread. Masters Energy took 36,000 tons aboard the Leste, while Rainoil split two smaller parcels, 15,000 tons and 18,000 tons, on the Pinarello.

NIPCO lifted 30,000 tons on the UM Minami, AA Rano took 35,000 tons aboard the Oluwajuwonlo, and Gulf Treasures collected 30,000 tons on a separate Leste run. Several cargoes combining diesel and jet fuel volumes were also loaded for Asharami, Octavus, Sahara Energy and the state-owned Pipelines and Product Marketing Company.

Taken together, the July programme illustrates a refinery operating on two tracks at once: consolidating its position as Nigeria’s dominant domestic fuel supplier while steadily building export volumes into markets it had barely touched a year earlier.

Togo and Cameroon’s emergence as top destinations points to growing regional demand for products refined on the West African coast rather than shipped in from Europe, the Middle East or Asia, a shift that traders and marketers in the region are likely to watch closely in the months ahead.

The schedule does not disclose pricing or contract terms for the cargoes listed.