Aliko Dangote has announced that the Dangote Refinery has obtained a license to refine more than 300,000 barrels of Nigerian crude per day and is poised to commence petrol production in the near future. Speaking at the Saudi-Nigeria business roundtable in Riyadh, Dangote emphasized the refinery’s commitment to starting operations with Nigerian crude.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the billionaire stated, “We don’t want to start our refinery with foreign goods; we want to start with the Nigerian crude. We’re more than ready, and you will see our gasoline products soon.” The 650,000 barrel-a-day refinery, initially expected to commence production by the end of July, faced delays but is now nearing the start of operations.
Dangote expressed confidence in the refinery’s readiness and assured that petrol production would begin “very very soon.” The primary focus initially will be to supply petrol to Nigeria before expanding exports to other regions, including West Africa.
The facility, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, is projected to produce 27 million litres of diesel, 11 million litres of kerosene, and 9 million litres of jet fuel. Dangote highlighted that the refinery would receive crude from various producers in Nigeria, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC). The NNPC is expected to allocate six million barrels of crude oil to Dangote Refinery in December 2023.
In a separate development, the NNPC introduced the Nembe crude oil grade to the market, which will be managed and marketed through a joint venture between NNPC and Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company.
