Energy
‘Nigerian Marketers Import Dangote Fuel Via Lome Hub’
Nigerian fuel marketers are increasingly importing refined petroleum products originating from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery through the offshore ship-to-ship trading hub in Lome, Togo, according to an S&P Global Energy official, Matthew Tracey-Cook.
Tracey-Cook said the circular trade pattern persists even as the refinery boosts local production and supply, highlighting a possible disparity between local and international pricing.
Speaking on Thursday at a MEMAN webinar themed “West Africa pricing and flows in the context of the war,” Tracey-Cook provided insights into evolving West African refined products markets, emphasising the deepening interconnection between Dangote’s coastal operations and the Lome STS hub.
He said Dangote volumes on a coastal basis do arrive back in Lagos from Lomé. Tracey-Cook presented data showing a marked shift in supply sources for Nigeria.
While waterborne imports exclude truck volumes, Dangote-origin products have become dominant in waterborne deliveries to Lagos and other Nigerian locations.
“Over the last six months, if you look at the volume of products on a waterborne basis that’s imported directly into Nigeria, Dangote production has become increasingly dominant,” he said.
He noted particularly strong performance between March and May 2026, saying, “For several months, from March until May, we saw well over 70 to 80 per cent of the volumes that were imported into Nigeria actually originated from Dangote; from their coastal Dangote volumes which were re-imported.”
He added that similar patterns appear on the diesel side, noting that “the increasing importance of the Dangote refinery in terms of product that’s flowing into Nigeria is really evident” from S&P Global data.
He stressed that despite Dangote’s growing direct coastal supply, offshore Lome has not diminished in importance, as the Lomé market is still slightly bigger compared to 2024 levels.
In certain months, such as November and December 2025, Lome handled significantly larger volumes. The hub serves as a flexible STS facility where larger medium-range tankers discharge cargoes that are then lifted onto smaller coaster vessels better suited to many West African ports with limited capacity.
“Lomé has become an increasingly important transshipment hub for filling regional shortages across the region… It serves an important purpose, given that many ports in West Africa don’t have the capacity to take a fully laden MR-sized vessel,” he added.
Charts from the webinar illustrate substantial Dangote exports to offshore Lome. These volumes include petrol, diesel, jet fuel and other clean products. Offshore Lome receives diverse origins but consistently incorporates significant Dangote cargoes.
Tracey-Cook also addressed pricing trends, noting an unusual seasonal pattern since the Middle East crisis began, adding, “This is really an unusual seasonal trend where gasoline in West Africa is significantly more expensive than it is in Europe right now.”
He added that Dangote petrol pricing remains tightly aligned with STS Lome benchmarks, while price differentials between the two locations enable effective risk management.
Tracey-Cook positioned Dangote and Lome as twin pillars of West African supply. “These two locations, the FOB Dangote market and also the STS Lomé market, are the two largest and most important regional hubs of supply in the region as a whole.
“You can, in a way, kind of compare it to the Mediterranean market, where you have multiple refineries, multiple sources of supply… And so that’s kind of what we see as a possibility in terms of development of this market,” he stressed.
It was disclosed that the US-Iran war’s impact has amplified Dangote’s role. “Looking at the context of the war, one of the most important things that stands out is the importance of Dangote in supplying not just West Africa, in terms of being a supplier of last resort across clean products, but also the European market.
“Europe before the war was more than 50 per cent reliant on jet fuel from inside the Persian Gulf. And when that supply was cut off, benchmark prices spiked to well over $1,800 per metric tonne.
“What we saw in the months after the war broke out was an increasing flow of product from the US, but also a large flow of product from Dangote. We actually saw in May Dangote being the largest single exporter of jet fuel globally in terms of refined product capacity,” Tracey-Cook noted.
He showed record Dangote exports outside West Africa from April to June 2026, with notable deliveries to the UK, the Netherlands and South Africa, among others.
The PUNCH recalls that some fuel importers in the country alleged in November 2025 that the Dangote refinery sells a litre of petrol to international traders at N65 cheaper than the amount it offers to marketers in Nigeria.
The Depot and Petroleum Product Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria confirmed this in separate interviews with our correspondent at the time.
“Dangote is selling to international traders at N65 lower than what he offers in Nigeria. How is it possible for some of our members to buy from someone who bought from Dangote?
“Dangote sells to international traders at N65 cheaper than what he is selling to us. In some instances, we were able to buy from those people and still bring it to Nigeria. They will take the product to Lomé, claiming that they are buying large quantities,” DAPPMAN said in 2025.
But the refinery dispelled the allegation of cheaper petrol sales in Togo compared to Nigeria, with many Nigerians questioning how local marketers could leave the producer of a product in his home country to buy it from another trader in Togo.
Courtesy – The Punch
Energy
NMDPRA Issues Updates on Q3 Crude Supplies to Domestic Refineries
From January to September 2026, the domestic refineries in Nigeria received 156.52 million barrels of crude oil.
Of the volume, 125.85million barrels (80.4 percent) were sourced from in-country while 30.66 million barrels (19.6 percent) were imported.
This was contained in the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Factsheet September 2026 released on Thursday.
The Factsheet specifically revealed that in September 2026, 38.7 million litres of the Premium Motor Spirit PMS (petrol) were received per day, crashing from the 50.5million litres per day received in August by 23 percent.
READ ALSO: Thor Empowers Host Communities with 10 Cassava, Palm Oil Processing Plants
Stock sufficiency in September was 23.9 days, declining below the 30-day threshold.
The NMDPRA stressed that while 28.7million litres were supplied per day from domestic sources, declining by 21 percent from the previous month, 10.2 million litres were imported, reducing imported petrol by 30 percent in the period under review.
According to the Factsheet, “Domestic refining contributed about 65 percent of the national petrol requirement (consumption) in September 2026, and about 74 percent of receipts, supplemented by 26 percent of imports”.
The Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Company (DPRP) is the only domestic refinery which currently produces petrol in Nigeria.
The report added that the DPRP produced 47.22 million litres per day of PMS in September, supplying 28.50 million litres per day to the domestic market and exporting (35.2 percent) 15.47 million litres per day.
On capacity utilization, the refinery recorded 105.98 percent of its 650,000 barrels per day capacity in the period under review.
The Factsheet disclosed that 8.7million litres of diesel were consumed in the month under review.
The NMDPRA revealed that modular refineries supplied 4.3 percent of domestic diesel consumption in September.
Aradel and OPAC, said the Factsheet, operated below optimal capacity due to feedstock challenges and maintenance shutdowns.
September diesel receipts, according to the NMDPRA, were the lowest of the 13 months, driven by low imports and low domestic evacuation amid high prices.
The Factsheet said, “Nigeria’s energy-sector transformation is progressing. Domestic refining contributed about 65 percent of the national petrol requirement (consumption) in September 2026, and about 74 percent of receipts, supplemented by 26 percent of imports.
“Priority gas projects have reached significant mileage, with the AKK pipeline at 84 percent completion as of September 2026,” the Factsheet pointed out.
Energy
Renaissance, Sterling Bank Back Indigenous Oil and Gas Contractors Financially
The appetite for improving access to capital for indigenous oil and gas contractors, strengthening the capacity of Nigerian businesses to execute critical energy projects and contribute to the country’s production ambitions, has seen the Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited (‘Renaissance’) go into a strategic financing partnership with Sterling Bank Limited.
The partnership, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), brings Sterling Bank into the renewed Renaissance Vendor Financing Scheme (RVFS), a structured financing programme designed to address one of the longstanding challenges confronting indigenous service providers in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry: access to timely and affordable funding for contract execution.
READ ALSO: Group Demands Fair Share of NNPC Jobs for Ogoni Oil Exploration
The expanded programme brings together 13 financial institutions with combined financing commitments of $4.1 billion and ₦435 billion, creating a substantial pool of capital to support eligible contractors delivering projects for Renaissance, operator of the former Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) joint venture assets.
Speaking on its participation, Dele Faseemo, Group Executive, Corporate and Investment Banking at Sterling Bank, described the partnership as an important opportunity to connect financial capacity with productive enterprise in one of Nigeria’s most strategically important sectors.
“At Sterling Bank, we believe financing should enable capable businesses to deliver, grow and compete. Our participation in the Renaissance Vendor Financing Scheme reflects that conviction. By providing structured funding to qualified contractors, we are supporting the businesses that keep the energy value chain moving, strengthening Nigerian content participation and contributing to the broader objective of increasing the country’s productive capacity,” Faseemo said.
For many indigenous contractors, securing a major contract represents only the first step towards business growth. The ability to mobilise equipment, procure materials, retain skilled personnel and meet demanding project timelines often depends on access to adequate working capital. Financing constraints can therefore limit the capacity of otherwise qualified businesses to execute contracts, scale their operations and participate more meaningfully in the energy value chain.
Through the RVFS, participating financial institutions will provide structured financing to eligible contractors against confirmed contracts awarded by Renaissance, subject to applicable credit assessment and approval processes. The arrangement is intended to ease funding pressures, improve project execution and strengthen the financial capacity of indigenous service providers.
Tony Attah, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, highlighted the importance of the financing arrangement to the company’s growth ambitions.
“What we’ve been able to achieve as Renaissance is to go into that partnership with these incredible 13 banks who have come up to support this vendor scheme at over $4 billion and over ₦435 billion funds available for the vendors to be able to support us in our growth agenda,” Attah said.
He further emphasised the financial advantage the scheme offers participating contractors, noting that, “The interest rate that the banks are offering to the contractors is very competitive, and it is certainly better than the vendors going out to the respective banks on their own.”
The Renaissance Vendor Financing Scheme builds on a contractor financing programme established in 2010, which has evolved over the years to support local service providers executing projects across the oil and gas value chain. Its latest expansion comes as Renaissance pursues an ambitious growth strategy, including its aspiration to achieve production of one million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030.
Delivering on this ambition will require sustained investment not only in upstream production assets but also in the network of engineering firms, equipment suppliers, logistics providers, technical specialists and other indigenous businesses whose services are essential to operational performance.
With an established presence in corporate banking and energy sector financing, Sterling Bank continues to support businesses operating across critical segments of the Nigerian economy through tailored financial solutions, strategic partnerships and sector-specific expertise.
The collaboration reinforces the Bank’s commitment to supporting indigenous enterprise development, strengthening local capacity and financing productive economic activity, while contributing to efforts to improve Nigeria’s energy security and long-term industrial competitiveness.
Energy
UNDC Assures on Readiness to Protect Oil, Gas Pipelines
The Niger Delta Youths are primed to assume national responsibilities in critical areas of the economy by protecting vital oil and gas assets in the region.
The United Niger Delta Congress (UNDC) gave the assurance at a media briefing in Abuja, over the weekend, adding that the youths of Niger Delta were ready to work with the federal government in this regard.
The group maintained that youths in the region have shown that such responsibilities, including the security of pipelines, can be entrusted to them.
Speaking at the news conference, Niger Delta Youth activist, Mallam Julius Obi, said the Niger Delta is safer while the nation’s crude is flowing based on the fact that youths in the region are doing the job.
He said that being a youth should not be a disqualification from strategic national assignments but when matched with preparation and character, a national asset.
“We are calling on the federal government to note that Nigeria is full of young men and women who are prepared, disciplined and ready to carry out national responsibilities.
“We urge the federal government to keep opening the doors of strategic national service to young Nigerians who have earned trust the only way it can be earned, by delivery,” Obi said.
READ ALSO: JUST IN: Ex-Delta Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan Is Dead
The group commended President Bola Tinubu for sustaining the security reforms in the oil and gas industry and the the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for coordinating the protection of the nation’s pipelines, and the management of NNPCL for providing the enabling environment.





