Yemisi Izuora
Two top global oil trader Vitol and North American fuel distributor Sunoco, have taken delivery of the first U.S. import of petrol from Dangote refinery.
The delivery was made on Monday, according to vessel-tracking data and two sources familiar with the matter, as reported by Reuters.
The delivery, on the tanker Gemini Pearl, marks a major milestone for the 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote refinery, as energy market participants had been waiting to see when its production would start meeting strict U.S. motor fuels standards.
Vitol purchased the Gemini Pearl’s cargo of around 320,000 barrels of gasoline from Geneva, Switzerland-based Mocoh Oil, and sold most of it to Sunoco, according to one source and ship-tracking data. It was not immediately clear what volume Vitol sold to Sunoco and how much it will keep.
The vessel discharged at Sunoco’s Linden facility in the New York Harbor area, vessel-tracking data showed.
The sources requested anonymity to discuss confidential details. Vitol and Sunoco did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mocoh Oil, which earlier this year confirmed a partnership with Dangote to export products from the refinery, did not immediately comment outside of business hours in Switzerland.
After a string of startup delays, the Dangote refinery, one of the world’s biggest, has reshaped global energy flows by ramping up output sharply since last year. It is expected to significantly reduce Nigeria’s fuel imports, while exporting its surplus mainly to Europe.
A second cargo of gasoline from Dangote to the U.S. was sold by Glencore to Shell on the vessel MH Daisen, which is set to arrive in the New York Harbor area around September 19, one of the sources said and ship-tracking data showed.
Glencore declined to comment, and Shell did not immediately respond.
Vitol also purchased from Mocoh a third cargo of gasoline made by the Dangote refinery, with the vessel Seaexplorer set to deliver that in the New York Harbor area around September 22, the sources said.
The sources said the destination of the undelivered cargoes could change based on market conditions.
While the cargoes back expectations that the Dangote refinery is set to sharply alter global energy trade, they are likely to be the only ones for a while. The refinery’s gasoline-producing unit could be shut for two to three months for repairs, industry monitor IIR Energy said earlier this month.
Dangote did not respond to Reuters’ earlier requests for comment on the outage.