Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that the $20 billion Dangote Refinery is increasingly relying on imported crude oil from the United States due to a persistent shortfall in Nigeria’s domestic crude supply.
Speaking during a visit by the One-Stop-Shop for Naira-for-Crude delegation, Dangote praised the initiative for stabilizing petrol prices and easing dollar pressure but lamented Nigeria’s inability to meet the refinery’s feedstock demands.
“Due to a shortage of domestic crude oil, the refinery has increasingly relied on imports from the United States to meet its needs in recent months,” a company statement disclosed.
The Coordinator of the OSS Technical Committee, Rose Ogbonna, hailed the refinery as a transformative project critical to Nigeria’s economic growth, stating:
“This refinery touches all our lives. There’s scarcely any sector unaffected.”
Recent reports from Bloomberg indicate that U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude has made up a third of Dangote’s crude purchases this year. Additionally, Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) noted that crude oil imports were the country’s third-largest imported commodity in Q1 2025, valued at N1.19 trillion.
The Dangote Refinery is set to receive 17.65 million barrels of crude oil between April and July 2025, as efforts continue to resolve local supply challenges.
