Nigeria’s 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) Dangote refinery has denied shutting down its petrol processing unit for maintenance despite a report by Bloomberg claiming that it was undergoing maintenance on April 25.

A senior spokesperson for Dangote told Punch on April 27 that the loading of petrol was “ongoing as we speak”. He continued to note that Bloomberg’s description of the plant’s operations was incorrect.

“It is not true. Don’t believe everything you see online. People can go to the refinery to check,” he said, adding: “The report is a lie. We are loading fuel every day. Millions of litres are being loaded on a daily basis. Go to the refinery there and see whether they are loading or not, and see how many trucks are leaving. We load millions of litres every day”.

The Bloomberg report claimed that Dangote’s fuel unit was being repaired, and that it had been shut down – quoting a person familiar with the matter who said: “A large fuel-production unit at Nigeria’s Dangote oil refinery is undergoing maintenance”.

The same source continued to note that the refinery’s crude distillation unit remained unaffected.

According to Bloomberg, the refinery was recently producing 18.4mn litres of petrol for the domestic market per day, but Kpler data and shipping information showed that the plant had not been exporting any petrol or diesel since April 14.

Although Dangote’s petrol processing unit isn’t the only part of the refinery that is used for the production of the fuel, any closure of the unit would likely have a notable impact on regional trade flows, according to Bloomberg.

The discrepancy in reporting comes following an announcement by Dangote refinery in March that said the plant planned to close its petrol unit for maintenance in June, according to industry monitor International Info Resources (IIR).

IIR noted that maintenance was expected to last for 30 days from June 1 – a move that likely signals the company’s goal of further increasing the plant’s production capacity. Currently, the refinery is operating at around 85% - according to comments made in February by a refinery official.