The Dangote Refinery will kick off the refining of petrol by November 30, 2023, Devakumar Edwin, Dangote Group Executive Director, said on Monday.
Speaking with S&P Global Commodity Insights on Monday, Edwin said the refinery will receive its first cargo of crude in the next two weeks and will kick off the production of up to 370,000 barrels per day of diesel and jet fuel in October 2023.
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Edwin also disclosed that by November 30, the refinery will start the phased ramp-up to 650,000 barrels per day of petrol.
“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
While addressing the timeline change, Edwin told S&P that the NNPCL had said they had committed their crude on a forward basis to someone else, so they didn’t have the crude immediately.
He noted that this is a temporary issue, and the refinery should run on exclusively Nigerian crude by November 2023.
Edwin, however, emphasised that the Nigerian oil will be purchased in US dollars and not naira because it is in a free zone on the outskirts of Lagos, adding that the NNPCL will supply some crude at knockdown prices due to its equity stake.
Edwin also said that the Dangote refinery can process most African crudes, apart from heavy Angolan grades, as well as 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.