Earlier this year, Dangote was typically receiving one or two supertankers of US crude every month alongside domestic supplies. But the flows waned in the summer as the refinery switched to taking more local output, amid an agreement to take up to 400,000 barrels a day of Nigerian crude paid for in local currency.
Dangote is taking a growing role in US and European oil markets, after gradually raising purchases of crude from Nigeria and the US. The plant’s pull on those barrels increases the competition for the oil faced by traditional buyers in Europe.