The Chairman and CEO of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote said the first product of the Dangote Refinery “will be in the market before the end of July, beginning of August this year.” Dangote disclosed this while delivering his welcome address at the inauguration of the refinery in Lagos State on Monday.
He said, “Beyond today’s ceremony, our first goal is to ramp up production of the various products to ensure that within this year, we’re able to fully satisfy our nation’s demand for higher quality products.” According to him, the accomplishment is to enable Nigeria to eliminate the tragedy of import dependency and stop — “once and for all” — toxic, substandard petroleum products from being dumped in Nigeria’s market.
“Beyond this, we intend to ensure that our plants are run at the highest capacity of utilisation and the highest efficiency to enable us to export competitively to other markets, especially in the ECOWAS and wider regions in which 53 countries out of 55 are dependent on imports to meet their petroleum products demand,” he added. According to Dangote, the project was the realisation of a “clear opportunity” for Nigeria. He stressed on the African Union’s commitment to the creation of an African common market through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Recall that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical Project, a subsidiary of Dangote Industries Limited owned by Aliko Dangote, was commissioned earlier today (Monday) by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The facility is located at Dangote Industries Free Zone, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, and expected to process crude oil grades from the continent of Africa, Asia and America, with a delivery of a surplus of close to 38 million litres of petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel for Nigeria daily The refinery is also expected to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day and transforms crude oil into different usage of petroleum products such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and kerosene.
The refinery will produce Euro-V quality gasoline and diesel, as well as jet fuel and polypropylene.
