Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery, Africa\u2019s largest refinery with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd), has purchased its first cargo of Algeria\u2019s light sweet Saharan Blend crude. The 1 million barrels cargo, bought from trading firm Glencore, is expected to be delivered between March 15 and 20, 2025, according to sources cited by Argus Media.<\/p>\n
While neither Dangote nor Glencore has directly confirmed the deal, market sources indicate that this is a significant move for the refinery, which has faced challenges securing enough crude oil locally. The price of the purchased cargo remains undisclosed.<\/p>\n
The Dangote refinery, owned by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, has been operational since January 2024 and started processing various products, including diesel, naphtha, and jet fuel, with gasoline production beginning in September 2024. Despite its size and potential, the refinery has struggled to secure sufficient Nigerian crude, despite its request for 550,000 bpd of local crude from Nigerian producers for the first half of 2025. The refinery is currently operating at 85% capacity, with plans to reach 100% within 30 days.<\/p>\n
The purchase of Saharan Blend crude is expected to help meet the refinery’s demand and reduce Nigeria\u2019s dependence on imported fuel. The crude\u2019s quality aligns with the refinery\u2019s needs, and its price is considered competitive compared to Nigerian crude grades.<\/p>\n
Saharan Blend prices have been declining, with a $1 per barrel drop observed in March, now standing at a 20\u00a2 per barrel discount to the North Sea Dated benchmark. This price adjustment, coupled with sluggish European demand due to refinery maintenance, has prompted sellers to explore other markets, potentially benefitting Dangote\u2019s refinery.<\/p>\n
So far, 420,000 bpd of crude has been delivered to Dangote\u2019s Lekki facility in 2025, with about 82% of that being light sweet crude grades, predominantly from Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Oando Chosen for Guaracara Refinery Lease<\/strong><\/p>\n In related news, Nigerian multinational Oando Plc has been selected as the preferred bidder for the lease of the Guaracara refinery in Trinidad and Tobago. Acting Prime Minister Stuart Young announced the decision, citing Oando’s strong financial track record, including its $1.5 billion acquisition of ConocoPhillips\u2019 assets in Nigeria and its recent $700 million purchase of onshore oil assets from Italy\u2019s Eni.<\/p>\n The evaluation committee highlighted Oando\u2019s ability to secure significant financing for upstream oil projects, giving it an edge over other bidders. Oando\u2019s proposal aligned with the Trinidadian government\u2019s objectives to reduce the state\u2019s burden while ensuring the refinery\u2019s continued operation. Prime Minister Young emphasized that the key focus would be to ensure the refinery\u2019s restart, prioritizing the continued supply of domestic fuel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery, Africa\u2019s largest refinery with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd), has purchased its first cargo of Algeria\u2019s light sweet Saharan Blend crude. The 1 million barrels cargo, bought from trading firm Glencore, is expected to be delivered between March 15 and 20, 2025, according to sources cited by Argus Media. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Dangote Refinery purchases its first cargo of Saharan Blend crude to boost operations as refinery nears full capacity.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7274,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7271\/revisions\/7274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}