According to current figures, the Dangote Oil Refinery, in recent months, has seen a significant uptick in the volume of refined products exported, primarily to the Middle East.
- The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has increased its refined product exports, capitalizing on Middle East refinery downtimes.
- Large refineries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Aramco’s, have reduced operations for maintenance.
- The Dangote Refinery exported significant petroleum cargoes to the Middle East Gulf region during June-July.
- Recent data reveals Dangote Refinery reached near its full operational capacity of 650,000 barrels per day in August 2025.
Africa’s largest oil refinery recently recorded growth in its export volume, particularly cargoes destined for markets in the Middle East.
A report by the Punch newspaper revealed that the surge in refinery exports is a result of the downtime other refineries in the aforementioned markets are experiencing.
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Saudi Aramco and some others in the Middle East Gulf have shut down or scaled down refining operations due to maintenance, leaving a gap that the $20 billion Lekki-based refinery has been partly plugging.
For example, the reformer unit at Aramco’s Jizan 400,000 b/d refinery has been offline since July. Additionally, its 400,000 b/d Yasref refinery in Yanbu has scaled down operations in the last few weeks.
The Punch was able to gather information on this recent development from a senior official at the refinery, who spoke anonymously.
“We export PMS, AGO (Automotive Gas Oil or diesel), and Jet A1 (also known as aviation fuel),” the anonymous source stated.
In June and July, the Dangote Refinery exported two long-haul petroleum cargoes to the Mideast Gulf area.
In June, the Dangote Refinery shipped 90,000 metric tons of gasoline to Asia, marking its first shipment of petrol outside of West Africa.
Given the Middle-East refinery downtimes, current estimates reveal that Saudi Arabia has substantially increased its gasoline imports, bringing in 478,000 tonnes in July vs 144,000 tonnes the month prior.
The United Arab Emirates also increased the quantity it bought, purchasing 864,000 tonnes in August, more than the 648,000 tonnes obtained in July.
It was also reported that 291,000 tons of gasoline, or around 78,000 barrels per day, landed in Saudi Arabia from European ports, the biggest level since December 2024.
A significant refinery turnaround season in the Mideast Gulf is anticipated to worsen the fourth-quarter gasoline market, which is already tight, forcing major regional suppliers to increase imports, according to Argus Media.
“The Dangote refinery had previously supplied two LR cargoes to the Mideast Gulf region when the markets were tight in June-July. If economics align and its residual fluid catalytic cracker issues are resolved, flows from Dangote could emerge…” a report by Argus claimed.
“Saudi Arabia, which has already shut down two of its refineries, is preparing to take additional facilities offline in the coming months. Aramco’s 460,000 barrels per day Satorp refinery in Jubail is due for a 60-day shutdown in November-December, while maintenance is also planned at the Riyadh refinery in the fourth quarter,” Argus added.
Argus also revealed that the Dangote refinery may be reaching its full capacity soon.
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Dangote Refinery’s recent milestone
According to global energy and commodity agency Argus, the Dangote Refinery’s output grew to about 610,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August 2025, reaching its official nameplate capacity of 650,000 bpd.
In a podcast titled “Can the Dangote Refinery Declare Victory Over Doubters?” Benedict George, Editor of the Argus European Products Report, claimed that the factory has exceeded industry expectations by continuing to operate at high levels into 2025.
“The Dangote refinery has been running this year more reliably and strongly than ever before. We have seen crude receipts at the refinery and therefore implied run rates growing month on month.
In recent months, we have been looking at above 400,000 barrels per day. As of June, we were around 440,000, 450,000 barrels per day.
So we are well above half of its nameplate capacity. And output is rising starkly as a result, as you can imagine. This month alone, we are looking at around 610,000 barrels per day in implied running rates,” he stated.
