Media Wire Express Correspondent
Nigeria’s Dangote oil refinery has begun producing diesel and aviation fuel, the company said on Saturday, after years of construction delays at the 650,000 barrel per day (bpd) plant.
The refinery, Africa’s largest, was built on a peninsula on the outskirts of the commercial capital Lagos at a cost of $20 billion by the continent’s richest man Aliko Dangote.
Although Nigeria is Africa’s top energy producer, it has relied on imports for most of the fuel it consumes. The Dangote refinery is expected to not only make it self-sufficient but also allow it to export fuel to neighbouring West African countries, potentially transforming oil trading in the Atlantic Basin.
Company officials told test runs could begin this week after the refinery received a sixth crude oil cargo on January 8.
The refinery, expected to generate 27 miillion litres of diesel ,11 million litres of kerosene, and 9 million litres of jet fuel, will source crude from various producers in Nigeria, including the country’s state oil company.
Nigerian oil firms have been mandated to provide 483,000bpd to the Dangote refinery and five other refineries in the first half of 2024. The 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote refinery will receive the biggest volume of 325,000 bpd.
Dangote , earlier confirmed that the long-awaited refinery is starting with 350,000 barrels a day The Refinery can load 2,900 trucks a day at its truck-loading gantries, and the products from the Refinery will conform to Euro V specifications.
The refinery design also complies with the World Bank, US EPA, European emission norms, and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) emission/effluent norms. Employing state-of-the-art technology.
Last year, Dangote announced intentions to publicly list the Dangote Petroleum Refinery on the Nigerian Excahnage Limited.
Additional Source: Business Insider
