Africa’s biggest refinery taps Middle East crude as Nigeria’s supply constraints persist

Africa’s largest refinery has purchased crude oil from the United Arab Emirates for the first time, widening its supplier base as persistent shortages of Nigerian crude continue to complicate efforts to feed one of the world’s biggest single-train refining complexes.

• Dangote Refinery has bought crude oil from the UAE for the first time, marking its entry into the Middle Eastern crude market.
• The move reflects continued shortages of Nigerian crude despite the country’s naira-for-crude supply arrangement.
• It comes as easing tensions around the Strait of Hormuz improve access to Gulf oil exports.
• The purchase underscores the refinery’s strategy to diversify supply ahead of its planned expansion to 1.4 million barrels per day.

According to S&P Global Commodity Insights, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has secured two cargoes of UAE crude, marking its first procurement from a Middle Eastern supplier.

The purchase represents a significant shift for the refinery, which has traditionally sourced crude from Nigeria, other African producers and the United States.

The move comes as Nigeria continues to grapple with the contradiction of being Africa’s largest crude oil producer while struggling to consistently supply enough feedstock to its own flagship refinery.

Although the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) supplies between 13 and 15 cargoes of crude monthly to Dangote under the federal government’s naira-for-crude arrangement, the refinery has increasingly turned to overseas suppliers because of insufficient domestic crude availability and operational bottlenecks at export terminals.

The latest purchase also follows improved stability in Middle Eastern oil exports after shipping through the Strait of Hormuz normalised following the easing of tensions between the United States and Iran, improving the availability of Gulf crude in international markets.

The Dangote refinery, built to process Nigeria’s light sweet crude, has steadily broadened the range of crude grades it can refine as operations expand.

Besides Nigerian crude, the refinery has imported barrels from the United States, Angola, Libya, Ghana and Guyana, with the UAE now becoming the latest addition to its growing supplier network.

The diversification reflects both operational flexibility and commercial strategy. Middle Eastern crude grades are generally heavier than Nigeria’s light sweet blends and can improve refinery economics when blended with lighter barrels, giving refiners greater flexibility to optimise yields of diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products.

The development comes despite gradual improvements in Nigeria’s oil production. According to OPEC’s latest Monthly Oil Market Report, Nigeria produced about 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in May, remaining below levels needed to comfortably meet export commitments while supplying growing domestic refining demand.

Production has continued to be constrained by crude theft, pipeline vandalism, ageing infrastructure and operational disruptions at key export terminals.

Dangote Refinery Chief Executive Officer David Bird previously acknowledged those challenges, saying inadequate crude availability had compelled the refinery to source additional supplies from international markets.

Speaking earlier this year, Bird said the refinery also intends to process more heavy crude as part of its long-term strategy.

“We definitely want to heavy up the barrel. We will be in the crude blending game. So you can easily imagine that at 1.4 million barrels per day we could process 30% Middle Eastern grades on each train,” Bird said.

According to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data, about 70% of the refinery’s crude imports in 2025 originated from Nigeria, while 24% came from the United States.

Dangote plans to double the refinery’s processing capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by the end of 2028, a level that would enable it to refine roughly 80% of Nigeria’s recent daily crude production.

Achieving that target will require access to a broader and more reliable pool of crude suppliers beyond Nigeria.

The refinery’s first purchase of Middle Eastern crude therefore marks more than a routine cargo acquisition. It signals a strategic shift towards a more diversified global sourcing model at a time when Africa’s largest refinery is positioning itself to become one of the world’s most significant fuel producers and exporters.

The UAE crude purchase highlights the growing mismatch between Nigeria’s ambition to refine more of its crude domestically and the country’s ability to consistently supply enough feedstock to its largest refinery.

As Dangote scales up production, securing crude from multiple global sources is likely to become a permanent feature of its procurement strategy, with implications for Nigeria’s oil sector, regional fuel markets and global crude trade.