Nigeria’s Dangote oil refinery has commenced the production of diesel and aviation fuel, as announced by the company on Saturday. This development follows a prolonged period of construction delays at the 650,000 barrel per day (bpd) facility, which stands as the largest in Africa. Situated on a peninsula on the outskirts of Lagos, the commercial capital, the refinery was constructed at a cost of $20 billion by Aliko Dangote, the wealthiest individual on the continent.
Despite Nigeria’s status as Africa’s primary energy producer, the nation has traditionally depended on fuel imports. The inauguration of the Dangote refinery is anticipated not only to attain self-sufficiency but also to enable the exportation of fuel to neighboring West African countries, potentially reshaping oil trading dynamics in the Atlantic Basin.
Company officials informed Reuters that test runs are poised to commence this week, subsequent to the refinery receiving its sixth crude oil cargo on January 8. The significance of this achievement was underscored by the company in a statement posted on the social media platform X: “This is a momentous day for Nigeria. We are pleased to have reached this noteworthy milestone.”
The facility received 1 million barrels of Nigeria’s Agbami crude on Monday, bringing the total volume received since December to 6 million barrels. Nigeria’s state-owned NNPC Ltd. is slated to provide four crude cargoes to the refinery as part of its February program.
According to industry experts, it may take several months from the commencement of the refinery’s crude distillation unit’s operations to transition from test runs to the full-capacity production of high-quality fuels.
Aliko Dangote has articulated his plans to initiate refining at a rate of 350,000 bpd initially, with the aspiration to achieve full production later in the current year.
(Reuters)
