Source: Gibson Shipbroker According to Gibson, “recently, Argus reported that Nigeria’s downstream regulator NMDPRA has indicated that the refinery has now received approval to start its residual fluid catalytic cracker, which upgrades heavy feedstock into lighter products, such as gasoline. Furthermore, Dangote’s vice president for oil and gas also has also stated that the company expects to start sales of gasoline in June and anticipates beginning exports of 10 ppm diesel. However, full operations could still be some time off, with naphtha exports, needed as a feedstock for a finished gasoline, remaining strong in May.
Any major changes to these flows will offer a clue as to how fast Dangote is bringing its secondary units online. For now, general expectations are that the refinery will start meaningfully impacting the clean tanker market in Q4 2024/Q1 2025 but as always there are a lot of moving parts”. “On its own, the anticipated decline in West African gasoline imports, when Dangote is fully up and running, will reduce demand not just for MRs but for larger LRs as well.
Volume wise, over 60% of all Nigerian gasoline imports over the past two years have been carried on LR2s and LR1s. Faced with reduced trading opportunities West, this will inevitably increase Middle East LR availability. Whilst the refinery is geared up to maximise gasoline production, it will still be producing sizable volumes of gasoil and jet.
For now, products are mainly staying local, but .
