Nigeria: Dangote refinery denies video showing motorcycle-based fuel delivery service

Nigeria’s 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) Dangote refinery has moved to deny a viral video that suggested it was distributing petrol across the country using motorcycles, according to The Punch.

According to Dangote Group, the company is unaware of the video’s origin and has no connection to the content shown.

The video itself, first seen on November 16, shows a man avoiding queues for fuel by placing an order through WhatsApp. Following this, a rider on a motorcycle arrives with a fuel dispenser attached, the contents of which are then transferred to the WhatsApp user’s vehicle.

The video then claimed that this service came under an initiative named ‘FuelUp,’ and that said initiative was run by Dangote.

In response, Dangote made a post on X/Twitter that said it was “not it anyway associated” with the video. A company executive continued to highlight that the refinery “does not have a contract with any business to sell fuel through bikes; instead, it solely supplies fuel to bulk buyers.”

Speaking to The Punch, Dangote’s group chief communications officer Anthony Chiejina said: “Fake! We are not in any way associated with this.”

Confusion surrounding the misleading video comes amidst a new scheme by the refinery to distribute fuel using hundreds of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered trucks imported from China, with the plant having started such deliveries in September.

This decision was then followed by an announcement that the refinery planned to increase its capacity from 650,000 bpd to 1.4mn bpd. Along with this, Dangote has started production at its 204,000-bpd gasoline unit on schedule, with the asset now running at 60% capacity, according to industry monitor IIR.

Along with plans to grow capacity, IIR has highlighted that the unit will continue to run at 60% until a scheduled maintenance shutdown between December 2025 and January 2026. Since the shutdown of the unit in August, exporters from Europe have seen an increase in business, with African countries looking to cover the shortfall by buying from European refiners.

Notably, news of the unit’s repair and restart sent petrol margins to $16.50 per barrels on October 20 – a reduction from $20 recorded on October 16, according to Hydrocarbon Processing.