Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has dismissed claims that it imports finished petroleum products, describing the reports as misleading and rooted in a poor understanding of how modern refineries operate.
The refinery, which is Africa’s largest single train facility, said it strictly refines crude oil and processes intermediate feedstocks into premium fuels and petrochemical products that meet the highest global standards. It stressed that this process does not amount to importing finished fuel, as widely alleged in recent reports.
Speaking during a media briefing at the Lekki refinery, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, David Bird, explained that the use of intermediate or semi-processed materials is a normal and accepted practice across major refineries worldwide. According to him, such materials are inputs for further refining and blending, not products meant for direct consumption.
Bird said the Dangote Refinery operates on a European and Asian merchant refinery model, combining advanced refining, blending, and trading systems to produce market-ready fuels that comply with strict environmental and health regulations.
He noted that all fuels produced by the refinery meet international specifications, including gasoline that is lead-free and MMT-free with sulphur content capped at 50 parts per million, as well as ultra-low sulphur diesel. These standards, he said, significantly reduce harmful emissions, protect vehicle engines, and improve public health outcomes.
The refinery’s chief executive reaffirmed that only fully refined and certified products are supplied to the Nigerian market, stressing that semi-finished fuels are unsuitable for vehicles and are never released for domestic use. Journalists at the briefing were shown physical samples of both intermediate feedstocks and fully refined fuels to demonstrate the clear difference between the two.
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Bird said the refinery was built to end Nigeria’s long exposure to substandard and high-sulphur fuels, adding that Dangote products are now exported to international markets, a development he described as proof of their quality and competitiveness.
He explained that intermediate materials such as naphtha, straight run gas oil, vacuum gas oil, reformate, alkylate, and isomerate are standard refinery inputs that undergo further processing to become finished products like petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, and petrochemicals.
Emphasising transparency, Bird said the refinery maintains open engagement with regulators and stakeholders and urged the media to help educate the public on the difference between intermediate feedstocks and finished petroleum products.
