Dangote refinery to commence operations in third quarter of 2022

The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has revealed its refinery subsidiary will commence processing of crude oil in the third quarter of 2022.

The 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery, is now officially behind the initially planned date of early 2022. Aliko Dangote confirmed this in a press briefing at the plant site in the Lekki FTZ in Lagos.

The announcement of the commencement of operations of the Dangote refinery is coming at a time when the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and several interest groups have insisted that the federal government must build up local refining capacity and stop the importation of petroleum products before embarking on the removal of fuel subsidy.

The Dangote Refinery is expected to address Nigeria’s reliance on the importation of petroleum products such as fuel and diesel.

Read: NNPC’s 20% stake in Dangote Refinery: A match made in oil

Mechanical work is completed

Aliko Dangote said that mechanical work on the refinery has been completed, noting that the plant will start with a processing capacity of 540,000 barrels a day and subsequently commence full production maybe by the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023.

Dangote said, ‘’Mechanical work on the refinery is complete and hopefully before the end of third quarter we should be in the market.

‘’The plant will start with a processing capacity of 540,000 barrels a day. Full production can start maybe, by the end of the year or beginning of 2023.’’

Despite his comments, sources familiar with the status of the project doubt the refinery will be ready to start producing fuel, diesel and other by crude oil by-products used by Nigerians. However, the fertiliser unit of the refinery is all set to start exporting after completion was announced last year.

Read: Dangote refinery will save Nigeria up to 30% of FX spent on imports – Emefiele

About Dangote Refinery

• Dangote refinery is a 650,000 barrels per day (BPD) integrated refinery and petrochemical project in the Lekki Free Zone in Lagos, Nigeria. It is owned by the Dangote Group and is expected to be Africa’s biggest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility, upon completion.
• The estimated $19 billion facility is an integrated refinery and petrochemical project which will meet 100% of Nigeria’s refined petroleum product requirement and even have a surplus for export when completed.
• The project has suffered several setbacks in terms of completion date especially due to the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in economic turmoil exposed many vulnerabilities in supply chains leading to the delay in transport of some equipment to the refinery.
• There is general optimism among stakeholders that the much-expected Dangote refinery will change the narratives in the nation’s downstream sector this year as it is expected to be one of the key drivers of growth that would impact positively on the downstream sector of the Nigerian economy in 2022.