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The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is quickly silencing its critics, with operations running more consistently and efficiently than ever before.
- Dangote Petroleum Refinery increased production to 610,000 barrels per day in August 2025, nearing its full capacity.
- The refinery consistently surpassed industry expectations, enhancing operational reliability and efficiency.
- June 2025 marked its first gasoline export to Asia, showcasing expanding export capabilities.
- By end-2025, the refinery targets to use solely Nigerian crude, demonstrating strides toward supply-side independence.
According to global energy and commodity agency Argus, the refinery’s production increased to about 610,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August 2025, approaching its official nameplate capacity of 650,000 bpd.
In a podcast titled “Can the Dangote Refinery Declare Victory Over Doubters?” Benedict George, Editor of the Argus European Products Report, stated that the plant has outperformed industry expectations by continually running at high levels into 2025.
“The Dangote refinery has been running this year more reliably and strongly than ever before. We have seen crude receipts at the refinery and therefore implied run rates growing month on month.
In recent months, we have been looking at above 400,000 barrels per day. As of June, we were around 440,000, 450,000 barrels per day. So we are well above half of its nameplate capacity. And output is rising starkly as a result, as you can imagine. This month alone, we are looking at around 610,000 barrels per day in implied running rates,” he stated.
The Argus podcast, as reported by the Punch, described how Dangote has become the primary gasoline price setter in Nigeria by offering aggressive pricing that frequently undercuts competitors, upending the downstream oil industry.
He claims that regional gasoline flows have started to change as a result of Dangote’s expanding output.
The refinery now sells goods to neighboring West African nations, forcing merchants to reroute supply to East and Southern Africa and dislodging shipments from Europe.
Dangote’s export
On the export front, Dangote made a breakthrough in June 2025, shipping 90,000 metric tons of gasoline to Asia, marking its first shipment of petrol outside of West Africa.
Meanwhile, the refinery is also aiming to achieve supply-side independence. Devakumar Edwin, Vice President of Dangote Industries, stated that the refinery plans to rely solely on Nigerian oil by the end of 2025.
Progress is already being made in this direction; in June, local producers supplied 53% of the crude processed, with the remaining 47% primarily coming from the United States.
The refinery at the time processed around 550,000 barrels of oil a day, with previous supplies coming from Brazil, Angola, Ghana, and Equatorial Guinea.
Recent financing and expansion plans for the Dangote Refinery
Earlier in August, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announced a $1.35 billion financing deal for Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), as part of a larger $4 billion syndicated credit to Africa’s leading industrial conglomerates.
The funding is anticipated to reduce DIL’s initial operational expenses while strengthening its balance sheet to support long-term growth goals.
Beyond its excellent present productivity, Dangote is already planning to expand.
In July, the refinery announced that it was undertaking a major renovation to increase output capacity from 650,000 to 700,000 bpd by the end of 2025.
