The oil market edged slightly higher on Tuesday, helped by weakness in the Dollar as concerns over a slowdown in the United States and the impact of tariffs on global economic growth remained.

Brent crude futures gained 28 cents or 0.4 per cent to close at $69.56 a barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures increased by 22 cents or 0.3 per cent to $66.25 a barrel.

The Dollar Index, which measures the American currency against six other top currencies, hit a four-month low. making oil less expensive for overseas buyers, buoying prices.

However, the market is still in the shadow of tariffs after the US President, Mr Donald Trump, said on Tuesday he had instructed his commerce secretary to add an additional 25 per cent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports from Canada, bringing the total tariff on those products to 50 per cent.

Market analysts noted that President Trump’s protectionist policies have shaken global markets following imposing and delaying tariffs on major oil suppliers Canada and Mexico, while also raising duties on China, prompting retaliatory measures.

He said over the weekend that the world’s largest economy could see a period of transition and declined to rule out a recession.

In supply, the US Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday that US crude oil production is poised to set a larger record this year than prior estimates, at an average 13.61 million barrels per day.

Worries about supply comes as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) plans to increase output in April.

Last Friday, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters that the OPEC+ producer group would go ahead with its April increase but may then consider other steps, including reducing production.

The decision could see the alliance add about 138,000 barrels per day of crude oil in April, which is the beginning of the easing of 2.2 million barrels per day cuts.

Investors are waiting for US inflation data due on Wednesday for clues on the path of interest rates.

Dangote refinery is buying feedstock from across the world to add to its domestic deliveries as it looks to meet its full capacity target by end of the month.

According to a Bloomberg report, the 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery has received delivery of more than three million barrels of American crude since the start of March 2025.

The refinery has also made purchases from former and present colleagues in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Angola and Algeria, respectively.

From Angola, the company has imported a shipment of Pazflor grade and a of Algeria’s Saharan Blend from Glencore Plc in recent weeks.

According to the most recently update, the refinery is operating around 85 per cent but it has been boosting processing rates since it started up early last year.

Even as foreign purchases are increasing, Bloomberg reported that the mega refinery runs mostly on local feedstock, as it took in more than ten million barrels of Nigerian crude last month alone.

The Lagos-based oil facility had received about 24 million barrels of Nigerian supply in October and November last year.

In February, Mr Edwin Devakumar, vice-president of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), said the refinery could begin operating at full capacity in 30 days.

The major shareholder in the structure and chairman, Mr Aliko Dangote assured Nigerians that his refinery has over N600 billion worth of premium motor spirit (PMS) in storage that can sufficiently meet Nigeria’s needs.

The buying spree comes as the Naira-for-crude deal with the Dangote Refinery and other local refineries was suspended by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

However, following the report, the Nigerian government said it was in talks with Dangote to extend a contract to sell it crude in the local currency with the NNPC saying it has supplied 48 million barrels since the agreement started in October 2024.

The chief executive of Tiyasilk Integrated Farms, Mr Hakeem Adeniji, has backed the construction of a central logistic hub by Origin Tech Group for the storage of dry and cold food.

In a chat with CNN, he posited that having a more reliable stockpile not only helps local consumers but also the farmers who supply the food as well.

Origin Tech is constructing a state-of-the-art facility on a land covering about 220 hectares in Lagos with a storage capability for five million metric tons.

According to the principal architect on the project, Sola Ige, “What we are looking at here is to store a significant amount of food that will last Lagosians for 90 days, should a crisis in the mode of COVID-19 ever occur again.”

Ige stated that the hub would serve as a storing, processing, and distribution centre for all of Nigeria with the intention of expanding to serve the broader region.

“The potentials are huge, half a billion tons of food in the space. It’s not a joke. We are not thinking local really, we are thinking at least for the African continent, we can repeat this in several countries, and it will be like Africa ceases to be the hunger capital of the world, and we can start exporting food also to the rest of world.”

For Mr Adeniji, “The advent of the central logistic hub, which I have regarded as a game changer, is good for people like us who are in the poultry business, who also see it as a prospect for a greater expansion of our businesses because now that we know that there is access to market, there’s a place we can always take our eggs.

“Now, you have adequate return on your investment and when you continue to do that, that means you have business stability.”

The chairman of Origin Tech, Prince S. J. Samuel, said having a more reliable stockpile not only helps local consumers but also the farmers who supply the food as well.

“Looking across Africa, I think it is time for change. When looking at the food system, you wonder why we still imports a lot of things. It’s because you don’t have the market-led system. I’ve not seen a lot of it developed.

“I believe that this project needs to run across Africa very fast and we are privileged to be that company who is willing to help pilot that drive because it has to be localised to each and adapted to the farmer’s culture,” he in the latest episode of Connecting Africa on CNN.

The hosts of the show, Eleni Giokos and Victoria Rubadiri, explored the continent’s expanding logistics sector to see how major investments in ports, railways, and airlines could unlock Africa’s trade potential.