Dangote Refinery To Start Production In 2018

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Dangote’s Lagos refinery to start operations by mid-2018. AN oil refinery, being promoted by Dangote Group, is expected to come on-stream latest by the first half of 2018, in Lagos. The plant will be able to process 500,000 barrels of crude a day, according to Dangote Industries’ operations director for petroleum refining, George Nicolaides, in an interview at the Platts African Refining Summit in Cape Town Monday.

“The site is being cleared, the plant is being designed,” Nicolaides said, adding that the organization is “close to the beginning of detailed engineering.”

In September last year, Dangote said it had agreed on a $3.3 billion loan with 12 Nigerian and foreign lenders to build the refinery as well as a petrochemical and fertilizer complex costing a total of $9 billion.

At that time, the facility in Africa’s biggest economy was expected to be completed in 2016 and the initial capacity of the refinery was put at 400,000 barrels a day.


“We have a very ambitious construction schedule,” Nicolaides said. “I’m not sure about the history of those dates.”

While Nigeria is Africa’s top producer of crude oil, it relies on fuel imports to meet more than 70 percent of its needs. Four state refineries with a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels a day are operating at a fraction of that because of poor maintenance and aging equipment.

Dangote selected Engineers India Ltd. to do most of the detailed engineering work for the new plant. Construction contractors were yet to be appointed.

“Supplying the local market is the primary objective,” Nicolaides said. “Naturally we can move product to the region. The government is being very supportive, very enthusiastic about this project. We are not looking for or wanting any particular subsidies.”

Guardian: Monday, 17 November 2014 19:45
Written by EDITOR
Category: Business News

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