Dangote refinery to truck-out 80% of petroleum products , begins nationwide petrol supply in August

Oredola Adeola

About 80 percent of the petroleum products expected to be produced at the 650,000 barrels per day(bpd) Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals in Lekki free trade zone, Lagos State will be discharged through trucks nationwide, with first products supply to the domestic market billed to commence in August 2023.

Alh. Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Dangote group, made this known on Monday, in his opening remark during the official commissioning of the refinery by outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to him, the over $ 18.5 billion single train – the largest in the world- facility has the capacity to process 650,000 barrels per day of crude oil, including 900,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene.

Dangote said, “Our immediate commitment is to ramp up production of the various products to ensure that within this year, we are able to fully satisfy our nation’s demand for high-quality products. This will enable us to eliminate the tragedy of import dependency and stop, once and for all, the dumping in our market of toxic sub-standard petroleum products.

He further noted that the refinery which is expected to run at the highest capacity utilization and highest efficiency, will provide the opportunity for Nigeria’s petroleum products to be exported competitively to over 53 African countries out of 55 that are dependent on importation to meet their energy consumptions.

He said, “This is a clear opportunity for Nigeria given the African Union’s commitment to the creation of an African Common Market through the recently established African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) regime.”

Dangote further stated that the refinery will provide vital raw materials needed by different industries including the plastic, pharmaceutical, food and beverages, packaging, construction, and many other manufacturers in the country.

He, therefore, noted that the refinery operation and ancillary businesses will generate massive employment both direct and indirect within the oil and gas downstream value chain and will equally provide far more absorptive capacity for labour in hundreds of thousands.

He said, “Already the facility has employed about 40,000 staff with the expectation of extending that target to over 100,000, by the time the facility is fully completed.”