It has been gathered that refineries in India are buying Nigerian crude while the country’s Dangote Petroleum Refinery is largely running on American oil.
In a twist that underscores the complexities of global oil trade, India’s state refiners are snapping up Nigerian crude oil while Africa’s largest refinery, located in Nigeria, is increasingly importing crude from the United States, a development that oil sector operators described as “oil trade irony” on Sunday.
Industry sources told Reuters that Indian Oil Corporation recently bought one million barrels of Nigeria’s Agbami crude for September delivery in a tender awarded to global trader Trafigura. The purchase is part of a broader sourcing spree that has seen Indian refiners secure millions of barrels from non-Russian sources.
Ironically, while Indian refiners are boosting purchases of Nigerian grades, the $20bn Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos is relying heavily on US imports to feed its processing units. The refinery imported an average of 10 million barrels in July, saying it was increasingly relying on the US for its feedstock despite the naira-for-crude deal with the Federal Government.
Reuters reported that Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum have bought a million barrels of non-Russian crude for delivery in September and October after the US pressured India to halt purchases from Russia.
Indian state refiners had been largely absent from the spot market since 2022, instead becoming one of the few purchasers of cheaper Russian crude after Russia invaded Ukraine. However, they paused Russian purchases in late July after pressure from US President Donald Trump.
Over two million barrels of crude oil were said to have been bought from Nigeria for September and October deliveries in India. India’s second biggest state refiner BPCL bought barrels of oil through negotiations for September arrival, a source familiar with the purchases said.
That included one million barrels of Angola Girassol, one million barrels of US Mars, three million barrels of Abu Dhabi Murban, and two million barrels of Nigerian oil, according to Reuters.
Data from commodities analytics firm, Kpler, showed that in July, US barrels accounted for about 60 per cent of Dangote’s 590,000 barrels per day of crude intake, with Nigerian grades making up the remaining 40 per cent.
In July, the Dangote refinery’s crude imports surged to a record 590 kbd—driven largely by US barrels overtaking Nigerian supply for the first time—amid ongoing domestic sourcing challenges, Kpler reports. The refinery is currently operating at 85 per cent of its nameplate capacity with plans to upgrade to 700,000 barrels per day.
As crude imports into the Dangote refinery surged to 590,000 bpd in July, the highest monthly volume on record, Kpler noted that US crude made up a substantial 370,000bpd (60 per cent) of the total, while Nigerian grades accounted for just 220,000 bpd (40 per cent), primarily comprising Amenam, Bonny Light, and Escravos.
“While WTI has held a significant share in Dangote’s import slate since March, this is the first time US crude has overtaken Nigerian supply—a shift driven by several factors,” Kpler reported. It stated that WTI has been more competitively priced than certain domestic options, especially as US barrels struggled to find traction in Asia amid rising OPEC+ output and multi-month lows in Murban spot premiums in May.
At the same time, the Dangote refinery had earlier said that securing domestic crude for the refinery had remained an ongoing challenge. Dangote and other local refineries have decried the low supply of crude to their facilities in conformity with the Domestic Crude Supply Obligations.
