By Uzoma Marvellous
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is reshaping West Africa’s refined petroleum products market, reducing the region’s reliance on distant imports while increasing the flow of Nigerian products to neighbouring countries, Gary Clark, Associate Director, EMEA Clean Refined Products Pricing at S&P Global Platts, has said.
Clark, lead speaker at the 2026 CORAN Summit in Lagos, said Nigeria’s expanding refining capacity, particularly Dangote’s ramp-up, and its proximity to major West African markets were shifting the region from its traditional dependence on European imports towards regional supply.
He said the development presented Nigeria with an opportunity to emerge as a major regional refining and trading hub.
However, Clark said growing domestic refining capacity had not eliminated West Africa’s refined-products deficit, with the region continuing to import diesel and, to some extent, gasoline, particularly through the Lomé trading hub.
“Unless more refining capacity is built, the region is still going to remain within a deficit,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria’s geographical position gives its refineries an advantage in supplying neighbouring markets, as shorter shipping distances can replace some longer-haul imports from Europe and other markets.
“We’ve gone from a dependency on Europe to regional supply, West Africa supply and demand centre,” Clark said.
The shift is already reflected in regional trade flows. S&P Global reported in June that West African clean-product imports fell 23 per cent month-on-month in May 2026, from 997,000 barrels per day in April to 765,000 b/d, as the ramp-up of the Dangote refinery reduced the region’s import requirement.
Dangote has also increased supplies to markets including Ghana, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire, replacing some longer-haul import flows with shorter regional voyages.
Clark said the development was therefore not simply about reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products, but about changing the structure of refined-products trade across West Africa.
He said strong regional demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, driven by population growth, economic activity, mining and industrialisation, would continue to create opportunities for additional refining capacity.
“There’s massive opportunity for refiners in Nigeria and in West Africa, not only to meet the local consumption needs, but also to export into the Atlantic Basin and even further afield than that,” he said.
Clark said Nigeria could also use its expanding refining capacity and marine infrastructure to supply markets beyond West Africa, including Europe, South Africa and East Africa.
S&P Global’s analysis has similarly projected that West Africa’s reliance on imported refined products will decline as Dangote increases production, although rising regional demand and limited additions to refining capacity could eventually push imports higher again.
Clark said Dangote’s impact should therefore be viewed as part of a broader transformation of West Africa’s refining and petroleum-products market, rather than as a complete solution to the region’s supply deficit.
The CORAN Summit 2026, organised by the Crude Oil Refinery-owners Association of Nigeria, is focused on “Refining for Value: Linking Upstream Supply to Downstream Demand,” with stakeholders examining feedstock security, refining capacity, infrastructure and Nigeria’s competitiveness in regional and global refined-products markets.
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