This follows a publication by Argus Media, also reported by Oilprice.com, claiming that European importers had turned away shipments from the 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery because the diesel did not meet winter-grade standards.
The report quoted an industry source stating that the refinery “cannot supply winter diesel to colder regions of Europe at present,” sparking widespread debate within the global energy market over the past 24 hours.
Responding on Friday, the spokesperson for Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, said the refinery does not produce winter diesel and therefore cannot be evaluated using that benchmark.
“Winter diesel is not in our portfolio. We don’t need winter spec. We are a tropical country,” Chiejina said, describing the report as misleading and taken out of context.
The company further recalled that in 2024, Dangote Industries, through a statement by its Vice President for Oil and Gas, Devakumar Edwin, confirmed that 90 percent of the refinery’s exported jet fuel and diesel was supplied to Europe—an indication, it said, of the product’s competitiveness in the continent.
