By Emmanuel Ogodo
As operations are set to commence at the Dangote Refinery, following its inauguration on Monday, 22 May, 2023, here are 11 things you need to know about the facility built by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
1. The refinery is located at Dangote Industries Free Zone, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State, Nigeria.
2. It is designed to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, transformimg crude oil into different usage of petroleum products such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and kerosene.
3. The refinery is designed to use the latest technology to comply with stringent guidelines and regulations to protect the local environment, and at the same time produce the latest environmentally friendly petroleum products for worldwide markets.
4. It has the capacity to meet 100 per cent of the Nigerian requirement of all liquid products, including gasoline (petrol), diesel, kerosene and aviation jet fuel, and would also have a surplus of each of these products for export.
5. The facility is designed to process a large variety of crudes including many of the African crudes, some of the Middle Eastern crudes and the US (United States) Light Tight Oil.
6. The pipeline infrastructure at the refinery is said to be the largest in the world with 1,100 kilometres and will handle 3 billion standard cubic foot of gas per day.
7. The refinery is expected to create a market for the $1 billion per annum Nigerian crude, in addition to foreign exchange earnings of $9.9bn.
8. Unlike state-run refineries, the Dangote Refinery’s local refining is not bound to conform to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota, hence the refinery has the potential to catalyse more domestic crude oil production and boost Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP).
9. Situated on 6,180 acres (2,500 hectares) of land, Dangote Refinery is Africa’s biggest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train petroleum facility.
10. The first refined Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as Petrol from Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals is expected to hit Nigeria’s local market by end of July and beginning of August, 2023.
11. The Dangote Group made a huge investment of over $18.5billion in the oil and gas industry (to set up the facility).
