Amid fanfare and high expectations, Nigeria’s outgoing President, Muhammadu Buhari, commissioned the much-vaunted Dangote refinery alongside his counterparts from Ghana, Togo, Senegal, Niger, and Chad. The massive 650,000 barrels per day oil plant sits on 2,635 hectares of land in Dangote Industries Free Zone in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, and will employ over 100,000 persons.
The largest refinery in the world is set up 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’s daily. The refinery, owned by Nigerian business tycoon Aliko Dangote was inaugurated on the 22nd of May, 2023. It will transform crude oil into different uses of petroleum products such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and kerosene.
The largest refinery
At the commission ceremony, Dangote said the priority was to ramp up production to ensure the refinery could fully satisfy Nigerian demand and eliminate “the tragedy of import dependency.”
According to Reuters, the government of outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari hopes that the refinery resolves Nigeria’s repeated fuel shortages, spending $23.3 billion last year on petroleum product imports and consuming around 33 million litres of petrol a day.
Export hub for petroleum products
The plant plans to export the surplus petrol, turning Africa’s biggest oil producer into an export hub for petroleum products. According to Dangote, Africa’s richest man, who funded the refinery’s construction, the refinery equally plans to export diesel.
The massive petrochemical complex cost $19 billion to build after years of delay – above initial estimates of between $12 billion and $14 billion – and has outstanding debt of around $2.75 billion, according to Nigeria’s central bank governor.
The complex also has a 435-megawatt power station, deep seaport and fertilizer unit, and it is expected to be operational by June.
According to analysts, the current opaque system has fostered corruption and limited the government’s ability to invest in critical areas like education and healthcare.
“A notable milestone” and “a game changer”
Buhari — who steps down on May 29 after eight years in office — described the project as “a notable milestone” and “a game changer for the downstream petroleum products market, not only in Nigeria but for the entire African continent.”
