ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Africa’s largest oil refinery has begun manufacturing in Nigeria, the corporate has mentioned, ending a yearslong await a plant that analysts mentioned Monday may increase refining capability in a area closely reliant on imported petroleum merchandise.
The $19 billion facility, which has a capability to provide 650,000 barrels per day, has began to provide diesel and aviation gas, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery firm reported Saturday. As Nigeria’s first privately owned oil refinery, the venture “is a game-changer for our nation,” it added.
Nigeria is considered one of Africa’s prime oil producers however imports refined petroleum merchandise for its personal use. The nation’s oil and pure gasoline sector has struggled for a few years, and most of its state-run refineries function far under capability due to the poor upkeep.
The Dangote refinery is “not a silver bullet” for Nigeria’s vitality disaster, based on Olufola Wusu, an oil and gasoline professional who was a part of a crew that helped assessment Nigeria’s nationwide gasoline coverage. “However it’s an effective way to revive the sector … and can assist transfer Nigeria from being a significant importer of refined petroleum merchandise to being self-reliant in home refining capability.”
Described by the corporate because the world’s largest single-train refinery, the non-public refinery is owned by Africa’s richest man, Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote. It’s positioned on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria’s financial hub, the place it operates alongside a fertilizer plant.
The plant is predicted to fulfill 100% of Nigeria’s wants for gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation jet gas at full manufacturing capability, Dangote mentioned final 12 months when the ability was opened. At the least 40% of the oil merchandise made there additionally could be obtainable for export, the corporate mentioned,.
The plant acquired about 6 million barrels of crude so removed from Nigeria’s state oil agency, NNPC Restricted, to kickstart its operation, though it may take months earlier than the refinery reaches full capability, based on analysts.
Some residents have expressed hope that the brand new plant would quickly assist scale back client gasoline costs, which have tripled from a 12 months in the past after the federal government stopped decadeslong subsidies,
Analysts have mentioned any affect on costs would nonetheless depend upon business tendencies resembling the price of crude, authorities interventions resembling subsidies, and the native forex’s trade price to the greenback.
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