The Dangote Refinery on Monday officially introduced its compressed natural gas-powered trucks for direct fuel supply, deploying over 1,000 vehicles to the gantry for loading.

According to Dangote Group’s spokesman, Anthony Chiejina, more than 1,000 trucks are prepared to deliver fuel to filling stations, while an additional 500 are stationed at the port.

“In one year, we have transitioned to CNG. Some of the old trucks are not even qualified in terms of safety. When you see the CNG trucks, the difference is clear. We have more than a thousand of them here; about 500 are at the port. The rest are coming. By the end of the month, we will have all the CNG trucks here. That’s a big transformation; within one year we were able to transit from old to new,” Chiejina stated.

The refinery, which started producing petrol a year ago, has now moved from older trucks to adopting CNG-powered models. The direct fuel supply program was initially set to launch on August 15 but was postponed due to logistics issues in China. Out of 4,000 CNG trucks ordered from China for delivery in Lagos, the plan was delayed because there were not enough vessels available to ship them.

The introduction of CNG-powered trucks is part of the refinery’s efforts to improve safety and efficiency in fuel transportation. The new trucks are expected to enhance the refinery’s operations and ensure a more reliable fuel supply to filling stations across the country.