Dangote Refinery: Lifting Products More Costly Than From Lomé Due to Port Charges, Says Aliko Dangote

In a candid revelation that has sent ripples through Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has disclosed that it is currently more expensive for oil marketers to lift refined petroleum products from his Lekki-based refinery than to source them from offshore storage depots in Lomé, Togo.

Dangote, the President of the Dangote Group, made this startling assertion on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, during the Global Commodity Insights Conference on West Africa’s refined fuel market, held in Abuja. He attributed the disparity primarily to Nigeria’s high port-related charges and regulatory inefficiencies, which he lamented are undermining the competitiveness of local refining.

“In terms of port charges, it is currently more expensive to load a domestic cargo of petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery, as customers pay both at the point of loading and at the point of discharge,” Dangote stated. He contrasted this with the situation in Lomé, where competing offshore terminals only levy charges at the point of discharge. “This is simply unfair and unsustainable,” he stressed.

According to Dangote, these “skyrocketing port charges” account for approximately 40 percent of the total freight cost, sometimes equating to two-thirds of the cost of chartering a vessel, including crew, insurance, and fuel. He further highlighted that refiners in India, despite sourcing crude from much farther distances, benefit from significantly lower freight charges than the Dangote Refinery in West Africa, precisely because they are not burdened with such exorbitant local charges.

The billionaire industrialist warned that this cost structure inadvertently incentivises fuel importation over local refining, thereby defeating the national drive for self-sufficiency and undermining the Federal Government’s efforts to manage foreign exchange pressure. He also pointed out that this situation contributes to Africa becoming a dumping ground for cheap, often substandard, petroleum products, many of which are blended to levels not permitted in Europe or North America.

While the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has previously voiced concerns about the refinery’s pricing and sales strategies, IPMAN National Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Ukadike, offered a nuanced perspective on Dangote’s latest complaint. He suggested that the “extra cost may not apply to local buyers but to marketers who go through coastal routes from other countries,” noting that it is generally more favorable to load from Dangote via both gantry and local coastal routes within Nigeria due to avoided international charges.

Beyond logistics, Dangote also used the platform to lament the persistent challenges in sourcing local crude oil, revealing that his refinery now imports between 9 and 10 million barrels of crude monthly from the United States and other countries due to difficulties with International Oil Companies (IOCs) providing crude at competitive terms.

The Dangote Refinery, a monumental $20 billion investment, was commissioned with the promise of transforming Nigeria into a net exporter of refined petroleum products and eradicating reliance on imports. However, Aliko Dangote’s latest concerns highlight the ongoing regulatory and infrastructural hurdles that threaten to impede the refinery’s full economic impact and the broader vision for Nigeria’s energy independence.