Dangote Refinery Expands In Range Of Crude Grades Processing

<h4>Dangote Refinery Expands In Range Of Crude Grades Processing<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Dangote refinery has expanded in range of crude grades processing in its Lekki based 650&comma;000 barrels per day &lpar;bpd&rpar; installed capacity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; during operational performance tests&comma; the facility successfully peaked at 700&comma;000 bpd&comma; making it the world&&num;8217&semi;s largest single-train petroleum refinery&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The refinery&comma; designed primarily to process Nigeria’s light sweet crude&comma; has increasingly diversified its crude slate as operations and capacity increase&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This development is in line with the company’s plans to double the refinery’s processing capacity to 1&period;4 million barrels per day by the end of 2028&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To achieve this&comma; the <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Dangote Petroleum Refinery<&sol;a><&sol;strong> is said to have purchased two cargoes of crude oil from the United Arab Emirates&comma; marking its first-ever procurement of Middle Eastern crude as it expands its feedstock sources amid persistent domestic supply constraints&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The essence&comma; according to information&comma; is to operate as a fully merchant refinery&comma; a development that naturally requires increase in crude requirements&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to a report by S&amp&semi;P Global Commodity Insights&comma; the two cargoes will be the first sourced by the 700&comma;000-barrels-per-day refinery from any Middle Eastern supplier&comma; signalling a shift from its traditional reliance on Nigerian&comma; African&comma; and United States crude grades&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;23346" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-23346" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-23346" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;12&sol;November-14-300x203&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Dangote Refinery Expands In Range Of Crude Grades Processing " width&equals;"300" height&equals;"203" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-23346" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>The Dangote Refinery &lbrace;Inset&rcub; Alhaji Aliko Dangote&comma; President&comma; Dangote Group of companies<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The report said the purchases followed the resumption of oil exports from the Middle East after the United States and Iran reached an interim peace agreement that restored confidence in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Earlier&comma; an agreement between the refinery and the <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited&comma; NNPCL&comma;<&sol;a><&sol;strong> had guaranteed the supply of between 13 and 15 cargoes of Nigerian crude monthly in naira&comma; helping the refinery reduce its foreign exchange exposure&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; the arrangement has faced challenges due to inadequate crude availability and operational issues at export terminals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to reports&comma; Dangote Refinery Chief Executive Officer David Bird had previously disclosed that these constraints had compelled the company to seek additional crude sources outside Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;25469" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-25469" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-25469" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;06&sol;Aliko-Dangote-897x598-1-300x200&period;webp" alt&equals;"Dangote Refinery Expands In Range Of Crude Grades Processing " width&equals;"300" height&equals;"200" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-25469" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><strong><em>Alhaji Aliko Dangote&comma; President&comma; Dangote Group<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Bird said in April that the refinery intended to increase the share of heavier crude grades in its feedstock mix&period; <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We definitely want to heavy up the barrel&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He added&comma; <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We will be in the crude blending game&period; So you can easily imagine at 1&period;4 million b&sol;d we could process 30 per cent Middle Eastern grades on each train&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 2025&comma; about 70 per cent of the refinery’s crude imports came from Nigeria&comma; while 24 per cent originated from the <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">United States<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Officially inaugurated and commissioned on May 22&comma; 2023&comma; the over <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;"><strong>&dollar;20 billion <&sol;strong><&sol;a>plant officially began refining operations in January 2024&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;