A tanker has delivered petrol from Nigeria’s new Dangote refinery to waters near Togo, signaling potential shifts in regional fuel markets.
The CL Jane Austen recently loaded more than 300,000 barrels from Dangote and sailed west, according to data from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, a port report, and ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
It’s now floating off the coast of Lome, a popular area for ship-to-ship transfers.
While the shipment is tiny in the context of the global fuel market, it signals the ramp-up of Dangote’s production and the potential to export significant volumes of petrol beyond Nigeria, which could upend regional markets.
The refinery last month shipped its first seaborne petrol cargo to the nearby commercial hub of Lagos.
Whether large amounts of Dangote’s petrol output end up being exported remains to be seen.
Last month, Nigeria ended its state-owned oil company’s monopoly on buying fuel from the plant for domestic use. Meanwhile, the country continues to import fuel from Europe and the US.
The final destination of the CL Jane Austen’s cargo remains uncertain. Currently off Togo, the area is commonly used for STS transfers, allowing the fuel to potentially be transported elsewhere.
