World’s largest Dangote Petroleum Refinerycommissioned

In May 2023, Nigeria commissioned the Dangote Refinery with aspirations of transforming the country into a net exporter of petroleum products.

At the beginning of the year, Nigeria was plagued with persistent fuel shortages and the refinery is regarded as the answer to the challenges.

The Dangote Refinery has a capacity to refine 650 000 barrels of oil per day. In 2022, the country spent approximately USD23 billion on petroleum products and consumes circa 33 million litres of petrol daily.

During the commissioning of the refinery owner and major shareholder in the project Aliko Dangote said the priority was to push production to ensure the refinery could completely satisfy Nigerian demand and “eliminate the tragedy of import dependency”. The Government of Nigeria holds a 20 percent stake in the refinery.

Dangote had expected to begin refining in June. However some pundits namely ‘Energy Aspects’ a leading provider of global data and intelligence for energy commodity and macro markets, projected operations to commence later in the year. This is premised on the uncertainty of supplies of crude. The think tank is still optimistic that in the long term, the refinery could end Nigeria’s petrol deficit and ultimately export diesel that meets European Union standards.

The petrochemical plant is touted to be the world’s largest single train refinery. Initial estimates for construction were pegged at between USD12 billion and14 billion, but ended up at around USD19 billion possibly because the project suffered a 10 year delay.

The petrochemicals facility includes a 435 megawatt power station, a fertilizer unit and a deep sea port.