Africa’s wealthiest individual, Aliko Dangote, has announced that his refinery has obtained a license to process over 300,000 barrels of Nigerian crude daily and is poised to commence gasoline production soon.
Speaking during a Riyadh interview at the Saudi-Nigeria business roundtable, Dangote emphasized the refinery’s commitment to kickstarting operations with Nigerian crude rather than foreign sources.
Despite missing the initial production target in August, Dangote remains confident that the refinery will commence production “very very soon.”
Highlighting the refinery’s initial focus on supplying gasoline to Nigeria before expanding to the West African region, Dangote revealed that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery is transitioning from crude oil imports to receiving its first cargo within two weeks.
While the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited handles crude oil trading for Nigeria, Dangote’s Executive Director, Devakumar Edwin, disclosed that the NNPCL had committed its crude to other entities, without specifying the recipients.
Although the Dangote refinery boss did not reveal the entities receiving the crude, earlier disclosures mentioned a $3 billion crude oil-for-loan deal between the NNPCL and the African Export-Import Bank.
The 650,000 barrel-a-day facility, projecting significant production of diesel, kerosene, and jet fuel, plans to source crude from various Nigerian producers, including the state oil company.
Aliko Dangote, whose fortune is estimated at $16.2 billion by Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is optimistic about the refinery’s impact on Nigeria’s petroleum production.
Notably, Nigeria recently achieved a 60,000 barrels per day increase in oil output, reaching 1.49 million barrels per day—the highest in nearly two years.
The introduction of the Nembe crude stream, managed through a joint venture between the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company and Aiteo Eastern E&P Co. Ltd., marks a significant step in the nation’s efforts to boost oil production.
However, challenges like crude theft and pipeline attacks in the Niger Delta continue to impede Nigeria’s ability to meet its OPEC quota, posing difficulties for the government in achieving revenue targets.
