Africa's biggest oil refinery will on Friday start direct and free shipping of fuel to retailers in Nigeria, a move expected to disrupt the oil sector in the continent's largest crude producer.

Nigeria's Dangote Refinery says that the plan will boost efficiency by cutting down on intermediaries while providing more competitive options for consumers and retailers such as petrol stations.

Owned by the country's richest man, Aliko Dangote, the 650,000 barrel-per-day capacity refinery launched in 2023, helping knock down prices after a steep hike following the removal of fuel subsidies by the government.

Here are some things to know about Nigeria's oil industry:

Crude was first discovered in Nigeria in 1956 in the southern Niger Delta region. The west African oil giant pumps an average of 1.5 million barrels per day, according to OPEC, but it is still short of its two million bpd target.

Oil accounts for around 62 percent of Nigeria's export earnings and forms a huge chunk of government revenue.

The industry has for decades been plagued by problems, amongst them high crude oil production costs due to ageing infrastructure, oil theft, corruption and environmental........

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