Dangote refinery- We Have Fuel To Serve Nigerians

The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has disclosed that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery currently has over 500 million litres of petrol in its reservoir.

He also said the refinery now produces enough fuel for local consumption and export. Dangote spoke during a tour of the $20bn Lekki-based facility with the Zambia Minister for Energy, Makozo Chikote on Saturday.

The Zambian official visited the Dangote refinery in Lekki, Lagos State, seeking collaboration with the founder to help solve the country’s energy security issue.

In his address during the tour, Dangote said the refinery currently has N600bn worth of stocks in its tank farm. He said the plant will reach its 650,000 barrels per day full production capacity next month, adding that Nigeria cannot consume up to 50 per cent of its refined products.

We can satisfy more than the local needs of Nigeria. As we speak, we have more than half a billion litres (of petrol). We have more than N600bn worth of stocks here today in the refinery. We have more than enough. The refinery is producing enough refined products, like gasoline, diesel, and kerosene, to meet 100 per cent of Nigeria’s requirements,” he stated.

Dangote disclosed that arrangements were being made to get enough crude to aid the refinery’s ramp-up plans.

“Now we are ramping up production. We must be at our full capacity by next month. But we have to do quite a lot of arrangements in terms of crude supply,” he stated.

Speaking about fuel quality, Africa’s richest man disclosed that refineries across the world are shutting down because of the Dangote refinery. He said no refinery in Africa and across Europe can produce the kind of quality fuel his refinery produces.

He said the sulphur content of his fuel could be as low as zero parts per million while the octane number can be 95.

“In terms of quality, there is actually no refinery in Africa, even in Europe that can produce our type of quality. We want to be flexible, you know the laws keep changing.”

Today, they will say 150 parts per million; tomorrow it’s 50 ppm, but we can produce up to zero ppm. This means we can do winter diesel, we can do Euro-5. No refinery around here can do that. When you read the news, you see that a lot of refineries now, especially in Europe, shutting down because of our own refinery. Our refinery is a percentage of the world’s production.

“Obviously, if we pump a lot, some of them will not be able to sell, that’s why in some countries, they will offer them money to just keep dumping. But then, we have to weather that storm up to the time that we will be able to be on our feet,” he added.

Dangote maintained that the local fuel consumption in Nigeria is 40 per cent of the refinery’s total production, stating that the remaining 60 per cent is for export to other countries, especially Africa.

He revealed that arrangements were being made with Afreximbank to resolve the challenges of letters of credit and financing.

PUNCH