During the unplanned outage, the Dangote refinery increased exports of residual products such as straight run fuel oil, while exports of finished products such as jet fuel and gasoil dropped, according to shipping trade analytics firm Kpler.

Nigeria's gasoline imports rose by 24% on the month in April to 157 000 bpd, Kpler data show.

Dangote had initially planned to shut its gasoline-making residue fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit for 30-day maintenance in June.

The 650,000 bpd refinery built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote in Lagos began processing crude into products, including gasoil, naphtha and jet fuel, in January 2024 and started producing gasoline in September.

The Dangote refinery did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

--Reuters--