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Dangote achieves milestone with U.S. market-compliant

gasoline

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Glencore ( GLCNF ) sells second Dangote cargo to Shell, arriving

September

19

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Third Dangote cargo to the U.S. bought by Vitol

By Shariq Khan

NEW YORK, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Top global oil trader

Vitol and North American fuel distributor Sunoco ( SUN ) took

delivery of the first U.S. import of gasoline from Nigeria's new

Dangote refinery on Monday, according to vessel-tracking data

and two sources familiar with the matter.

The delivery, on the tanker Gemini Pearl, marks a major

milestone for the 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote refinery, as

energy market participants had been waiting to see when its

production would start meeting strict U.S. 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 ( SUN ), according to one source and

ship-tracking data. It was not immediately clear what volume

Vitol sold to Sunoco ( SUN ) and how much it will keep.

The vessel discharged at Sunoco's ( SUN ) Linden facility in the New

York Harbor area, vessel-tracking data showed.

The sources requested anonymity to discuss confidential

details. Vitol and Sunoco ( SUN ) did not immediately respond to

requests for comment.

Reuters is the first to report the parties involved in these

trades.

Mocoh Oil, which earlier this year confirmed a partnership

with Dangote to export products from the refinery, did not

immediately comment outside of business hours in Switzerland.

After a string of startup delays, the Dangote refinery, one

of the world's biggest, has reshaped global energy flows by

ramping up output sharply since last year. It is expected to

significantly reduce Nigeria's fuel imports, while exporting its

surplus mainly to Europe.

A second cargo of gasoline from Dangote to the U.S. was sold

by Glencore ( GLCNF ) to Shell on the vessel MH Daisen,

which is set to arrive in the New York Harbor area around

September 19, one of the sources said and ship-tracking data

showed.

Glencore ( GLCNF ) declined to comment, and Shell did not immediately

respond.

Vitol also purchased from Mocoh a third cargo of gasoline

made by the Dangote refinery, with the vessel Seaexplorer set to

deliver that in the New York Harbor area around September 22,

the sources said.

The sources said the destination of the undelivered cargoes

could change based on market conditions.

While the cargoes back expectations that the Dangote

refinery is set to sharply alter global energy trade, they are

likely to be the only ones for a while. The refinery's

gasoline-producing unit could be shut for two to three months

for repairs, industry monitor IIR Energy said earlier this

month.

Dangote did not respond to Reuters' earlier requests for

comment on the outage.