The Dangote oil refinery in Nigeria has called off its planned June maintenance of the gasoline-producing unit after completing necessary repairs during an unexpected outage that occurred from April 7 to May 11, according to industry insights from IIR Energy.
Originally, the refinery had scheduled a 30-day maintenance shutdown for its Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) unit in June. However, this was rendered unnecessary as essential work was carried out during the unplanned downtime.
During the period of the outage, the facility shifted its export focus. While shipments of high-value refined fuels such as jet fuel and gasoil declined, exports of intermediate products like straight run fuel oil increased, based on data from Kpler, a global commodity tracking firm.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s gasoline imports surged by 24% in April, reaching 157,000 barrels per day, reflecting both the downtime at Dangote and the country’s continued dependence on foreign fuel supplies.
The 650,000 barrels per day refinery, which is the largest in Africa and was established by business magnate Aliko Dangote in Lagos, began converting crude oil into refined products such as diesel (gasoil), naphtha, and jet fuel in January 2024, with gasoline production starting in September of that year.
“We’ve completed the required maintenance and resumed operations,” said a senior official from the refinery, referring to the RFCC unit.
