Dangote Refinery is ramping up crude oil production with a purchase of an additional 5 million barrels from the United States of America (US), according to data from Bloomberg.
According to the data, the refinery purchased 5 million barrels of WTI Midland for delivery in August and September.
It further showed that the oil company also initiated a tender process to purchase an additional 6 million barrels of American crude for September.
Dangote has purchased over 16 million barrels of West Texas Intermediate crude oil this year, according to the Bloomberg data.
Based on tenders for new supply observed by Bloomberg, the proportion of crude from the US, compared to Nigerian barrels, is expected to increase in August and September.
Devakumar Edwin, the Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), had earlier accused International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria of inflating the price of crude above market rate.
Edwin said this price manipulation is pushing the refinery to import crude from distant countries like the United States, leading to significantly higher costs.
He alleged that the IOCs are actively trying to undermine the Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals.
The $19 billion refinery is set to begin supplying Petrol this July, according to the chairman and CEO of the company, Aliko Dangote.
The CEO had said the refinery will commence production of petrol between 10 and 15 of July, while supply to local marketers will commence from the third week of the same month.
