The first US import of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, from the Dangote Refinery in Lagos landed on Monday, Reuters reported.
According to media reports, the shipment was received by top global oil trader Vitol and North American fuel distributor Sunoco.
The delivery, on the tanker Gemini Pearl, marks a major milestone for the 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery, as energy market participants had been waiting to see when its production would start meeting strict US motor fuels standards.
Vitol purchased the Gemini Pearl’s cargo of around 320,000 barrels of gasoline from Geneva, Switzerland-based Mocoh Oil, and sold most of it to Sunoco.
However, the publication couldn’t ascertain what volume Vitol sold to Sunoco and how much it will keep.
The vessel discharged at Sunoco’s Linden facility in the New York Harbor area, according to vessel-tracking data.
Aliko Dangote, the President of Dangote Refinery, at an event on Monday, said the refinery exported 1.1 billion litres of petrol in three months.
He explained that his refinery has come to make Nigeria a net exporter of fuel and has erased the era of petrol queues in Nigeria.
“We have been battling fuel queues since 1975, but today Nigerians are witnessing a new era.”
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Earlier this year, Mocoh Oil confirmed a partnership with Dangote to export products from the refinery.
A second cargo of gasoline from Dangote to the US was sold by Glencore to Shell on the vessel MH Daisen, which is set to arrive in the New York Harbor area around September 19.
Vitol also purchased from Mocoh Oil a third cargo of petrol made by the Dangote refinery, with the vessel Seaexplorer set to deliver that in the New York Harbor area around September 22.
Breaking into the U.S. market represents far more than a symbolic win. It demonstrates that the refinery’s products can meet some of the strictest quality and environmental standards in the global fuel trade, paving the way for exports to other premium destinations in Europe and Asia.
Industry analysts say that if Dangote can consistently deliver to advanced markets, it could begin to reshape global trade flows and reposition Nigeria as not just a crude exporter but a serious player in refined products.
Beyond the U.S., the refinery has already tested new waters in Asia, sending about 90,000 metric tons of gasoline eastward in June, its first shipment outside West Africa.
It has also supplied low sulfur straight run fuel oil to Singapore and delivered two consignments of jet fuel to Saudi Aramco, indicating its widening global reach
To date, it has shipped roughly 1.7 million barrels of jet fuel to U.S. ports across six vessels, further cementing its growing role in international energy trade.