The Dangote Refinery in Lagos has resumed importing crude oil from the United States after a three-month hiatus, as the facility ramps up production.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the refinery has purchased approximately two million barrels of WTI Midland crude from Chevron Corporation, reports The Nation.
The shipment is expected to arrive at the refinery’s 650,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) petrochemical facility in Lagos next month.
Earlier this year, the refinery imported one or two shipments of US crude monthly, supplementing domestic supplies.
However, imports decreased around August following an agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited. Under this deal, NNPC agreed to supply up to 400,000 barrels of local crude daily to the refinery, with payments made in naira rather than US dollars.
Despite this arrangement, Chevron has chartered the supertanker Azure Nova to transport the crude from the US Gulf Coast, with loading scheduled around December 5, according to shipping records.
The newspaper said that while the exact reasons for resuming US crude imports remain unclear, a report from Sparta Commodities suggests that declining shipping costs may have made US oil more competitive in the European market recently.
