Western Africa’s imports of clean petroleum products (CPP) declined sharply during April–May 2026, falling 44% year-on-year from 1,144 thousand barrels per day (kbpd) to 642 kbpd, according to BIMCO.
The steep reduction in import volumes also resulted in a 47% year-on-year decline in tonne-mile demand, reducing the region’s share of global CPP tonne miles from 5.3% to 3.6%, highlighting the growing impact of regional refining capacity on tanker trade patterns.
According to BIMCO Chief Shipping Analyst, Niels Rasmussen, the largest impact was felt in the long-range product tanker segment. LR1 and LR2 product tankers recorded tonne-mile declines of 88% and 78% respectively, together accounting for 55% of the total loss in tonne-mile demand.
While imports from all major loading regions declined, shipments from the Americas emerged as the sole growth area. Volumes from the region surged 34-fold compared with the same period last year, helping limit the decline in MR tanker tonne miles to just 4%. In contrast, exports from North Europe and Africa—the two largest supplying regions—fell by more than 50%, accounting for approximately 75% of the overall reduction in imports.
BIMCO attributes much of the downturn to the declining role of Lome, Togo, as a key offshore storage and redistribution hub for petroleum products in West Africa.
“The drop in Western Africa’s imports appears to reflect a reduced role for Lome as a key offshore storage and redistribution hub. Imports into Lome offshore storage, and re-exports from there to Western Africa, experienced a larger volume decline than the region overall,” Rasmussen noted.
Historically, Nigeria has been the largest recipient of petroleum products re-exported from Lome, accounting for roughly half of all redistributed volumes. However, the rapid rise of the Dangote Refinery is significantly altering regional trade dynamics.
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, the refinery supplied nearly 80% of Nigeria’s petrol demand in April 2026 and could potentially meet up to 90% of domestic demand. As a result, re-exports from Lome offshore storage to Nigeria plunged 89% year-on-year, with similarly sharp declines recorded across other West African markets.
Further strengthening Nigeria’s self-sufficiency ambitions, Dangote has commenced construction of a second crude processing unit with a capacity of 700 kbpd. Once operational by the end of 2028, the expansion will more than double the refinery’s current 650 kbpd processing capacity.
The development is expected to support higher exports of refined products from Nigeria while further reducing the need for imports and offshore storage services in the region.
“As Lome may never regain Nigeria’s volumes, its position as a major offshore import and storage hub could be lost along with the related tanker demand. It could, however, remain an important offshore distribution hub for smaller markets and ports,” Rasmussen concluded.
The transformation of West Africa’s petroleum supply chain underscores the growing influence of domestic refining capacity on global tanker markets, with Nigeria increasingly emerging as a regional refining and export powerhouse.
