Dangote refinery rejects 15.5m barrels of crude offered in Q2

By Abubakar Yunus

The Dangote Refinery accepted 52.6 million barrels out of the 68.1 million barrels of crude oil offered by producers in the second quarter of 2026, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has said.

The figure means the refinery accepted only 78 per cent of the crude volumes offered to it during the period, despite requiring 63 million barrels, according to the commission’s Q2 2026 statistics on the enforcement of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation.

NUPRC said the 68.1 million barrels offered to the Dangote refinery represented 98 per cent of the total crude volumes offered to domestic refineries during the quarter.

“At the level of refinery participation, the statistics show that the Dangote Refinery required 63 million barrels in Q2 but the producers offered higher volumes of 68.1 million barrels,” the commission said.

“Eventually, 52.6 million barrels were accepted by the Dangote refinery. This implies that the refinery only accepted 78 per cent of what it was offered,” it added.

The development comes amid recent changes in the refinery’s petroleum products sales arrangements.

On July 14, the Dangote refinery announced plans to sell petroleum products to marketers in dollars, citing the volume of products being sold above its naira-crude allocations.

The refinery said the situation had made it unsustainable to continue selling petrol in naira.

However, the refinery resumed the sale of petrol in naira on July 13.

Meanwhile, NUPRC said 53.7 million barrels of crude oil and condensate were supplied to local refiners between April and June, representing an overall 97.4 per cent performance in the second quarter.

The commission said the figures showed that the DCSO was being actively administered and enforced in line with Section 109 of the Petroleum Industry Act.

NUPRC explained that it holds monthly meetings with stakeholders, including crude oil producers and licensed local refineries, before allocating specific volumes of crude oil and condensate to producers for domestic refineries.

However, the commission said the PIA framework operates on a “willing buyer, willing seller” basis, which ultimately determines the volumes accepted by refiners.

In April, NUPRC allocated 18,127,638 barrels to producers, but the producers offered 19,312,476 barrels to refiners.

“Eventually, 20,879,381 barrels were supplied to local refiners, meaning the producers met 114.9 per cent of their allocation,” the commission said.

In May, the commission allocated 18,778,392 barrels to producers, who offered 23,187,893 barrels to local refiners.

However, actual supply stood at 14,228,865 barrels, representing 75.8 per cent compliance, NUPRC said.

The situation changed in June when producers exceeded their allocation and refiners took a higher volume of crude.

“In the month of June, the Commission allocated 18,172,638 barrels to the producers. The producers offered 26,835,119 barrels to refiners which in turn took 18,606,026 barrels representing a 102.4 per cent performance,” the statement read.

NUPRC attributed the improvement in domestic crude supply to increased local oil production and the signing of long-term crude supply agreements backed by bankable Sales and Purchase Agreements between producers and domestic refiners.

“The Commission observed that the improvement in DCSO coincided with an increase in local oil production and the signing of the long term crude supply agreement supported by bankable Sales and Purchase agreement between the Producers and Domestic refiners,” it said.

The commission reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the Federal Government’s objective of achieving energy sufficiency.

NUPRC said it would continue to leverage the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 to sustain recent gains in crude oil production and enforce the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation.