A Hong Kong VLCC has imported the first barrels of Brazilian Mero crude to Africa's biggest refinery.
The cargo was lifted from the 250,000-dwt production vessel Sepetiba (built 2021) on
A Hong Kong VLCC has imported the first barrels of Brazilian Mero crude to Africa's biggest refinery.
The cargo was lifted from the 250,000-dwt production vessel Sepetiba (built 2021) on 9 May by AET's 154,000-dwt suezmax shuttle tanker Eagle Canoas (built 2022).
It was then transferred to Hong Kong operator Kingrui Shipping's 314,000-dwt VLCC Union Peace (built 2007), which was co-loaded at the time with Iracema crude.
AIS showed the big tanker due into Lekki port in Nigeria on Saturday, but no update has been given for two days.
The shipment suggests Dangote is showing signs of operational confidence in its residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) unit as it ramps up imports of heavier crude grades, oil consultancy Kpler said.
"This marks a continuation of the refinery’s appetite for Brazilian grades following a March import of Buzios crude, a blend that aligns well with RFCC configuration requirements," it added.
Kpler noted that previously, the cracker had struggled with several technical challenges, including regenerator hot spots, catalyst separator inefficiencies, and cooling system constraints.
The issues had limited its use to between 45% and 50% of capacity, Kpler said.
In April, Dangote extended an initially planned 10-day shutdown into early May to resolve the issue.
Start-up resumed last week, with the downtime likely used to stabilise operations and prevent further outages, the company added.
Nigeria’s crude production rose to a two-month high of 1.486m barrels per day in April.
This means it is edging closer to its Opec+ quota of 1.5m bpd, according to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
Earlier in May, a CMB.Tech suezmax tanker shipped in the first cargo of domestic Egina crude to Dangote.
Tracking data showed the 149,800-dwt Sienna (built 2007) loaded 1m barrels of oil on 20 April.
This was later discharged at the Dangote jetty, as the refinery seeks to secure feedstock to ramp up production.
Kpler said the shipment marked the plant’s second delivery of Nigerian sweet crude.
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