Africa’s wealthiest man, Aliko Dangote, is nearing the long-awaited inauguration of the Dangote Refinery, set to take place on May 22.
President Muhammadu Buhari will have the honour of officiating the ceremony, as stated by presidential aide Bashir Ahmad.
Ahmad expressed his enthusiasm on Twitter, highlighting the significance of the Dangote Refinery in the government’s efforts to enhance Nigeria’s self-sufficiency in crude oil refining. The refinery, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, is poised to become the largest single-train refinery globally. This development is expected to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on scarce foreign exchange used for petroleum product imports.
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An invitation received by The Standard Gazette confirmed the commissioning date as May 22, 2023, urging recipients to save the date for the official launch of the Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE.
Situated within the Lekki Free Zone area of Lagos, the Dangote Refinery complex stands as Africa’s largest refinery and the world’s largest single-train refinery. Distinguished by its employment of an integrated distillation unit, this refinery utilizes a single crude distillation unit, setting it apart from larger refineries that employ multiple distillation units.
Dangote Group had initially announced a $3.3 billion loan deal with local and foreign banks back in 2013 to fund the construction of the refinery. The project’s timeline underwent several adjustments, including a capacity expansion and relocation to a 2,500-hectare site in Ibeju Lekki, just outside Lagos. These modifications pushed the completion date to late 2019, with production anticipated to commence in 2020.
However, challenges arose during construction, and the refinery faced further delays, largely attributed to difficulties in importing necessary equipment such as steel. The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, revealed in January 2022 that the refinery would begin crude oil processing in the third quarter of that year. Unfortunately, the anticipated commencement did not materialize.
As a result of the ongoing delay, a report by S&P Global in March highlighted the continued importation of approximately 700,000 barrels per day of diesel in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Nonetheless, experts maintain optimism, suggesting that the Dangote Refinery will not only fulfill the entirety of Nigeria’s refined product requirements but also generate a surplus for export in each product category.
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