The Dangote Refinery, a $20 billion project and soon to be Africa’s largest refinery, is set to begin operations after years of construction delays. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is expected to supply four crude cargoes from its February program to the refinery.
The refinery, which has the potential to transform oil trading in the Atlantic Basin, has already received six initial crude cargoes and could begin test runs as early as this week. This development is a significant step towards making Nigeria self-sufficient in fuel production and potentially an exporter to its neighbors in West Africa.
The refinery received 1 million barrels of Nigeria’s Agbami crude on Monday, bringing the total volume received since December to 6 million barrels. The NNPC supplied the 650,000 barrel per day (bpd) plant with four of the cargoes.
Dangote’s group executive director for strategy, portfolio development, and capital projects, Edwin Devakumar, stated that the company did not request cargoes from NNPC for January. He explained that they are starting the refinery and if they continue to line up cargoes, their inventory will build up as well as costs.
The refinery is also considering crude supplies from other countries. One of the sources revealed that the refinery has nominated four NNPC cargoes for February. A second source mentioned that NNPC wanted to wait for the plant’s test runs before sending more oil.
The initial processing capacity is expected to reach 350,000 bpd, to ramp up to full capacity by the end of the year. This move is a beacon of hope for Nigeria and West Africa, signaling a shift towards energy independence and economic growth.
Source: Reuters
