Dangote Refinery Exports First Gasoline Cargo To U.S.
I built everything, didn’t inherit my father’s wealth, says Dangote
THE Dangote Refinery has exported its first gasoline cargo to the United States (U.S.).The development, which marks a new milestone for the facility’s growing global footprint, was not immediately confirmed when The Guardian contacted the company’s Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina.
Argus reported that a Gemini Pearl loaded around 300,000 barrels of gasoline at Dangote’s Port on 26 August for U.S., with a likely discharge at New York or New Jersey, according to trade data from Kpler.
Market participants suggested that a trading firm, Vitol, might have chartered the vessel, although this has also not been confirmed. While this is the first Nigerian gasoline cargo to move to the U.S., Dangote has already shipped products eastwards. In June and July, the refinery exported three LR2 cargoes, two to the Middle East Gulf and one to Singapore.
Traders said the latest shipment appears to be driven by arbitrage opportunities, with U.S. Atlantic Coast gasoline prices rising and inventories falling.
The refinery is, however, still exporting low-sulphur straight-run fuel oil, suggesting its RFCC is operating at around 45-50pc capacity. The unit was shut in August for 10–15 days and has since restarted, but market sources said operational issues persist, including high metals content in the feedstock.
Meanwhile, Aliko Dangote has said that he did not rely on inherited wealth to build his business empire, insisting that everything he owns today was built from scratch.
In an interview originally uploaded by Bloomberg, which resurfaced online yesterday, the billionaire industrialist reflected on his family background, revealing that his late great-grandfather was regarded as the richest man in West Africa in the 1940s, while his grandfather was also among Nigeria’s wealthiest at the time.
“The family’s name is Dantata. That’s from my maternal side,” Dangote said. He added that although his father was “fairly rich” through business and politics, he deliberately chose not to keep any of the wealth passed down to him.
“One thing that I’m very, very proud of is that I did not inherit any money from my father. I built everything from scratch to where I am.
“Whatever I inherited from him, which means in assets, I gave that on to charity since then,” he explained.
Dangote, however, recalled how he began his career working briefly with his uncle before moving to Lagos, where he started buying and selling cement, saying: “It was just a very low-key business. The issue is that when you look at cement, cement is what builds infrastructure, and we need a lot of infrastructure.”
