West Africa's fuel imports surge as Dangote refinery undergoes maintenance, cuts output

Business Insider

15-05-2025

A maintenance exercise at the Dangote Refinery, which lasted approximately 30 days and involved shutting down its 204,000 barrels-per-day gasoline unit, caused a significant rise in fuel imports across West Africa.
The Dangote Refinery underwent a 30-day maintenance exercise, shutting down its gasoline production unit and reducing output by 100,000 barrels per day.
The temporary output reduction caused increased petroleum imports within West Africa, raising European gasoline prices.
Togo has become a significant player in regional fuel imports, utilizing methods like breakbulk shipping to optimize trade efficiency.
This temporary reduction in fuel output from the Dangote refinery considered as the largest in the region, led to increased reliance on fuel imports to meet regional demand.
During the maintenance period, the refinery continued to operate at around 85% of its total capacity.
As of February 2025, Dangote Refinery officials announced plans to ramp up production to full capacity within 30 days, targeting a processing volume of 650,000 barrels per day.
Dangote refinery undergoes maintenance
The Dangote refinery in Nigeria, one of the largest globally, restarted its key gasoline unit, the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC), after a four-week shutdown to fix design issues.
This unit's closure in April cut about 100,000 barrels per day of gasoline output, causing local fuel shortages and pushing European gasoline prices higher.
S&P Global commodity insights reports that during the outage, the refinery relied on a smaller unit to meet domestic demand, leading West African countries to increase fuel imports from Europe.
The Refinery has also reportedly cancelled the planned maintenance on its 204,000 barrels-per-day gasoline-producing unit for June, having carried out the necessary work during the unplanned shutdown from April 7 to May 11.
Gasoline imports into Nigeria and Togo rose from 200,000 barrels per day in January to over 300,000 b/d in March, before easing slightly in April.
Other refinery units producing diesel, jet fuel, and residual fuels remained operational, with the crude distillation unit running at 85% capacity before maintenance.
Dangote now plans to ramp up to full capacity.
On May 12, a ₦10/litre drop in gasoline prices signaled improving production and supply.
Fuel Trade Shift in West Africa
Dangote has become Africa's largest fuel supplier, dominating the regional market.
Last year, Bloomberg reported that the tanker CL Jane Austen loaded over 300,000 barrels of gasoline from Dangote and sailed to waters off Togo.
Ghana also considered purchasing from Dangote to reduce costly European imports, which currently cost about $400 million monthly.
As of last year, Dangote was in advanced talks with Ghana, Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, with initial discussions ongoing with Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic.
The drop in production output has dealt a blow to the refinery's supply prospects and its numerous customers across the continent and beyond.
To meet regional fuel needs, marketers have turned to European suppliers.