Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is planning to arrange an oil buying and selling arm, possible based mostly in London, to assist run crude and merchandise provide for his new refinery in Nigeria, six sources accustomed to the matter have informed Reuters.
The transfer, it mentioned, would scale back the function of the world’s greatest buying and selling companies, which have been negotiating for months to offer the refinery with financing and crude oil in change for merchandise exports.
In line with the report, the large 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery is about to redraw international oil and gasoline flows and the buying and selling neighborhood is carefully watching the best way it’s going to function.
It mentioned that Dangote, whose wealth is estimated by Forbes at $12.7 billion, didn’t reply to a number of remark requests.
Buying and selling sources informed Reuters that that BP, Trafigura and Vitol, amongst others had met Dangote in Lagos and London in latest weeks to supply loans for some $3 billion in working capital the refinery wants to purchase giant quantities of crude.
The merchants, the report famous, requested the refinery to repay loans with gasoline exports however that to date, they’ve signed no offers.
It defined that it’s because Dangote worries they would scale back his management of the mission – and doubtlessly his revenue, the sources mentioned. Dangote has additionally met state-backed companies in his seek for money and crude, it said.
“He’s going to try to do it himself,” an business supply informed Reuters. Sources informed Reuters the brand new buying and selling workforce can be led by ex-Essar dealer Radha Mohan.
Mohan joined Dangote in 2021 as director of worldwide provide and buying and selling, in line with his Linkedin profile, quoted the report. Two sources mentioned the workforce was within the strategy of hiring two new merchants.
The refinery took almost a decade to finish and got here in at a value of $20 billion, some $6 billion over finances.
The plant has refined round 8 million barrels of oil between January and February and can take months to get to full capability.
Up to now, Vitol has pay as you go for some product cargoes to assist the refinery purchase crude, whereas Trafigura has swapped some crude oil in change for future gasoline cargoes, sources with information mentioned. Geneva-based Vitol and Trafigura additionally declined to remark.
Vitol operates as an power and commodities firm which provides crude oil and product buying and selling, transport, refining, terminals and storage, downstream, upstream, gasoline and energy, renewables, and investments providers.
Trafigura, the third-largest bodily commodities buying and selling group on the planet behind Vitol and Glencore, sources, shops, blends and transports uncooked supplies together with oil and refined petroleum merchandise.
