The Executive Director of Dangote Group, Devakumar Edwin on Monday, announced that the Dangote Refinery is set to begin refining petrol by November 30, 2023, while operations for refining diesel and jet fuel will commence in October same 2023.
Edwin informed S&P Global Commodity Insights that the refinery is scheduled to receive its initial shipment of crude within the next two weeks, marking the commencement of the production of up to 370,000 barrels per day of diesel and jet fuel in October 2023. Following this, the refinery will gradually increase its capacity to refine up to 650,000 barrels per day of petrol by November 30.
“Right now, I’m ready to receive crude. We are just waiting for the first vessel. And so, as soon as it comes in, we can start,” said Edwin
Explaining the shift in the timeline, Edwin informed S&P that the NNPCL had already committed their crude to another party on a forward basis, which is why they couldn’t provide the crude immediately.
He assured that this is a temporary situation and affirmed that the refinery is projected to exclusively utilize Nigerian crude by November 2023.
Edwin underscored that Nigerian oil will be procured in US dollars, not in naira, due to the refinery’s location in a free zone on the outskirts of Lagos. He further mentioned that NNPCL, due to its equity stake, will offer some crude at reduced prices.
Additionally, Edwin stated that the Dangote refinery is capable of processing a wide range of African crudes, with the exception of heavy Angolan grades. It can also handle Middle Eastern Arab Light and even US light-tight oil.
“We can even take some of the Russian grades… if the global system opens up to allow us to receive them. Basically, if you look at our production profile, 50% of my production will meet 100% of the requirements of the country.
“Excess gasoline – which will be 10 ppm sulfur Euro 5 quality — will be exported to other African markets as well as the US and South America, although the volumes will be relatively small. Meanwhile, jet fuel will be exported to Europe and diesel will be sold in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.
Credit: iReporters