Dangote Refinery receives total two million barrels of crude out of expected six mb
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Dangote Refinery has received an additional one million barrels of bonny light crude supplied by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), making a total two million barrels, to bolster its plan to produce fuel by January 2024, after years of delay.
The delivery coincides with news the rehabilitation of state-owned Port Harcourt Refinery is near completion and is set to produce 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refined products also by January.
Dangote Refinery’s additional crude from the Shell terminal via the MT Otis – owned by Trafigural – is the second consignment to delivered to the Dangote facility out of the six million barrels expected by the world’s largest single-train refinery.
About a week ago Dangote Refinery received one million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), one of the world’s largest trading companies, trading over eight million barrels per day (mbpd).
Akin Omole, Dangote Ports Operations Managing Director, disclosed at Dangote Quay, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos the refinery is expecting more crudes before the end of the year to put the Refinery in good stead to commence operation.
Once the 6 million barrels are fully delivered, it will facilitate the initial run of the refinery as well as kick-start the production of diesel, aviation fuel, and LPG (cooking gas) before progressing to the production of petrol.
This latest development will play a pivotal role in alleviating the fuel supply challenges faced by Nigeria and other West African countries.
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Dangote Refinery designed to meet all of Nigeria’s fuel needs
Dangote Refinery is designed for 100 per cent Nigerian crude with flexibility to produce 650,000 bpd and can process most African crude grades, Middle Eastern Arab Light, US Light tight oil as well as crude from other countries.
It can meet 100 per cent of Nigeria’s requirement of all refined products – gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation jet, and also have surplus of each of these products for export.
The refinery was built to take crude through its two SPMs located 25 kilometres from the shore and to discharge petroleum products through three separate SPMs. In addition, it has the capacity to load 2,900 trucks a day at its truck loading gantries.
Dangote Refinery has a self-sufficient marine facility with the ability to handle the largest vessel globally available. All products from the refinery will conform to Euro V specifications.
It is designed to comply with US EPA, European emission norms, and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) emission/effluent norms as well as African Refiners and Distribution Association (ARDA) standards.
“We are delighted to have reached this significant milestone. This is an important achievement for our country as it demonstrates our ability to develop and deliver large capital projects,” Dangote Group President Aliko Dangote said while receiving the first crude consignment.
“Our focus over the coming months is to ramp up the refinery to its full capacity. I look forward to the next significant milestone when we deliver the first batch of products to the Nigerian market.”
Osagie Okunbor, Country Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, said: “We welcome the startup of a refinery that is designed to produce gasoline, diesel, and low-sulphur fuels for Nigeria and across West Africa and are happy to be enabling it.”