The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has expanded its feedstock sources in the face of ongoing domestic supply difficulties by purchasing two cargoes of crude oil from the United Arab Emirates. This is the refinery’s first purchase of Middle Eastern crude.
The two shipments will be the first from any Middle Eastern supplier for the 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery, according to a study by S&P Global Commodity Insights. This represents a change from the refinery’s customary dependence on crude grades from Nigeria, Africa, and the United States.
According to the source, the purchases came after Middle Eastern oil supplies resumed following an interim peace deal between the US and Iran that reestablished trust in ships over the Strait of Hormuz.
As operations increase, the refinery, which was initially built to process Nigeria’s light sweet crude, has expanded its crude slate. According to S&P Global, the refinery’s foreign exchange risk was lessened thanks to an arrangement between it and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company that guaranteed the supply of 13–15 cargoes of Nigerian crude per month in naira.
However, the agreement has encountered difficulties because of insufficient crude supply and problems with export terminal operations. The report claims that Dangote Refinery CEO David Bird had previously stated that these limitations had forced the company to look for other crude supplies outside of Nigeria.
According to the article, the refinery’s expansion plans will raise its needs for oil even more. By the end of 2028, Dangote intends to quadruple the refinery’s processing capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, which would allow it to handle almost 80% of Nigeria’s recent crude oil production in a single day.
Bird stated earlier this year that the refinery planned to boost the proportion of heavier crude grades in its feedstock mix. In April, Bird stated, “We definitely want to heavy up the barrel.”
“We will be in the crude blending game,” he continued. Therefore, it is easy to see how we could handle 30% Middle Eastern grades on each train at 1.4 million b/d.
As part of its goal to become a completely merchant refinery, the refinery has been expanding the variety of crude grades it processes, according to S&P Global. According to the research, Nigeria accounted for almost 70% of the refinery’s crude imports in 2025, with the United States accounting for 24%.
