A report has indicated that Dangote Refinery is set to import crude oil from Brazil.
According to Bloomberg, this would add to the large number of overseas barrels of crude feedstock that the Nigerian firm was importing.
Recall that there have been concerns over the low crude oil output in Nigeria.
Indigenous crude oil refiners, including the Dangote refinery, modular refineries, and local crude producers, have complained about the development.
Although the government, through the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, has been making efforts to tackle this, oil production from Nigeria has remained low.
This has made it tough for local refiners to get crude, as the bulk of the oil produced within the country are exported due to earlier arranged contracts with International Oil Companies operating in Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Traders who spoke to the aforementioned publication disclosed that the Dangote refinery, which is still ramping up to full capacity, would receive a shipment of one million barrels of Tupi crude from Brazil for delivery in the second half of next month.
“The refinery, billed as pivotal in ending Nigeria’s dependence on foreign fuel, has already snapped up millions of barrels of American crude,” the report by the media organisation stated.
It stated that the purchases of non-Nigerian barrels likely reflect the most competitively priced, suitable cargoes.
The traders said the cargo was sold by Petrobras, a state-owned Brazilian multinational corporation.
The publication said officials at the company, and one at Dangote, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.