NNPC begins export of LSSR from Port Harcourt Refinery

NNPC begins export of LSSR from Port Harcourt Refinery....Read Full Article>>

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has sold the first cargo of Port-Harcourt low sulfur straight run fuel oil (LSSR) to Dubai-based Gulf Transport & Trading Limited (GTT).

The company is expected to load in the coming days onboard the Wonder Star MR1 ship to signal the commencement of operations of the plant and exportation of petroleum products.

The ship will load 15,000 metric tons of the product, which translates to about 13.6 million litres.

Although the volume coming from the NNPC into the global market is still small, the development will potentially impact the Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) benchmarks in the future while changing the market realities for Atlantic Basin exporters into Nigeria and other regions.

The sulfur content of the export by NNPC stands at 0.26 per cent per wt and a 0.918 g/ml density at 15°C, Kpler, a data and analysis company, wrote.

The cargo was reportedly sold at a $8.50/t discount to the NWE 0.5 per cent benchmark on a Free on Board (FOB) basis.

Kpler reported that the development would help displace imports from traditional suppliers in Africa and Europe, as Nigeria’s clean product imports are already falling, dragging imports into the wider West Africa region lower too.

The Port Harcourt Refinery has been in the news following the announcement of the start of the refinery in late November.

According to the NNPC, the refinery is producing Straight-Run Gasoline (Naphtha), blending it with imported gasoline to produce 1.4 million liters of PMS (petrol), 900,000 litres of kerosene, 1.5 million litres of diesel, and 2.1 million litres of Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) daily.

To achieve this, the NNPC has imported two cargoes of 28,000 metric tons of Research Octane Number (RON) gasoline, which will be blended with components from Indorama Petrochemical.

Recent gasoline import data has shown that while Nigeria had relied on Europe and slightly Asia for petroleum products, importation has been nose-diving since mid 2024 following productions by the Dangote Refinery and the coming on stream of Port-Harcourt Refinery.

Meanwhile, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has sealed a purchasing deal to lift petroleum products from Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

PETROAN disclosed this on Friday in a statement, stressing that there would be uninterrupted fuel supply during and after the festive season.

Citing strategic measures and collaborations as key drivers of this confidence, the marketers said with the commencement of production at the Port Harcourt Refinery and successful deliberations with Dangote Refinery, its distribution technical committee has developed and executed a “zero-fuel scarcity strategy.”

National President of PETROAN, Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, said he led a delegation to a strategic business meeting with Dangote Refinery’s management on December 2, 2024.

He disclosed that the meeting, held at the refinery complex in Lagos, resulted in a transactional agreement to secure consistent fuel supplies for PETROAN outlets.

Gillis-Harry commended the Vice President of Dangote Group and Managing Director of Dangote Refinery, Devakumar V. G. Edwin, for his commitment to ensuring the availability of petroleum products nationwide.

PETROAN highlighted the outcomes of the meeting, which include a seller-buyer relationship, reservation of monthly fuel volumes, favourable payment terms, and competitive pricing.