Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant in Lekki, Lagos has reportedly received a historic first shipment of one million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO) for refining.
The crude was delivered to the refinery’s Single Point Mooring (SPM) and subsequently discharged into the refinery’s crude oil tanks for refining.
An elated Aliko Dangote, the President of Dangote Group, remarked, “We are delighted to have reached this significant milestone.”
This long awaited and crucial move should bolster Nigeria’s domestic refining capabilities and help the country in her goal of achieving energy self-sufficiency. Currently, Nigeria – the 6th largest OPEC oil producing country has relied on subsidized import of refined products due to domestic refining failures.
The end of the subsidy regime by the government of President Bola Tinubu in June tripled petrol prices and accelerated inflation across Nigeria’s economy.
This initial shipment from STASCO is the first of planned 8 million barrels to be supplied by various providers and is vital in kickstarting the initial processing capacity of 350,000 barrels per day. The subsequent cargoes, to be supplied by the NNPC within two to three weeks, and the final cargo from ExxonMobil, will further support the refinery’s operations.
The refinery is expected to initially produce diesel, aviation fuel, and LPG, with future plans to produce Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) for Nigeria’s energy-starved economy of 200+ million people.
The Dangote Refinery, designed to process 100% Nigerian crude and other African and international crudes, boasts an installed daily processing capacity of 650,000 barrels – said to be the highest installed capacity in the world.
It also has the capacity to load 2,900 trucks of its various refined products a day at its truck loading gantries.
Aliko Dangote emphasized the importance of this achievement for the country, highlighting the commitment to developing and delivering large-scale projects. ”We are delighted to have reached this significant milestone. This is an important achievement for our country as it demonstrates our ability to develop and deliver large capital projects. Our focus over the coming months is to ramp up the refinery to its full capacity. I look forward to the next significant milestone when we deliver the first batch of products to the Nigerian market,” he said.
Osagie Okunbor, the Country Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, welcomed the startup of the refinery, ”We welcome the startup of a refinery that is designed to produce gasoline, diesel, and low-sulphur fuels for Nigeria and across West Africa and are happy to be enabling it.”
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