The 50,000 barrel-per-day refinery owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is projected to lift Nigeria into a net exporter of fuels, a long-sought goal for the country.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – Dangote oil refinery on Friday received its first cargo of 1 million barrels of crude oil from Shell International Trading and Shipping Co (STASCO), the company has said.
This signals the start of operations after several missed deadlines.
The $19 billion refinery was commissioned in May this year, after it ran years behind schedule. It is one of Nigeria’s single largest investments.
The 50,000 barrel-per-day refinery owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is projected to lift Nigeria into a net exporter of fuels, a long-sought goal for the country.
Dangote Group, in a statement, stated that the cargo of 1 million barrels of crude from Agbami – a deep water field run by Chevron (CVX.N) – was the first of 6 million barrels that would enable an initial run of the refinery.
That will kick-start output of diesel, aviation fuel and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, before the refinery later starts producing Premium Motor Spirit.
The company further said the STASCO cargo arrived on a chartered vessel and was discharged into the refinery’s crude oil tanks, with an additional four cargoes expected to be supplied by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in two to three weeks, and a final cargo will come from ExxonMobil (XOM.N).
In November, NNPCL, which has a 20% stake in the refinery, signed an agreement to supply the Dangote refinery with up to six cargoes of crude starting this month.