Dangote Refinery set to begin fuel production as 1st major crude supply of over 950,000 barrels arrives
Dangote Refinery is finally poised to commence fuel production as the first crude shipment arrives at the facility, marking a significant milestone for the country’s oil industry.
Quoting industry sources and tanker tracking data, S&P Global, in a report on its website, spglobal.com, said that the OTIS tanker, carrying a 950,000 barrel cargo of Nigeria’s Agbami crude, set sail on December 6 and is currently en route to Lekki, the nearest land port to Dangote’s offshore crude receiving terminal.
It pointed out that the arrival of the first crude shipment at the mammoth $19 billion Dangote refinery marks a significant milestone for Nigeria’s oil industry.
“The tanker is expected to arrive on December 7 around 8 p.m.; this shipment marks the initiation of crude supplies for the refinery’s operations,” the report read.
Further shipments from various Nigerian offshore fields to the refinery have been chartered by NNPC, signifying the beginning of a series of scheduled crude supplies throughout this month, according to the oil trader.
Despite the refinery’s official completion in May, the lack of domestic crude feedstock had impeded oil product manufacturing. The NNPC, owning a 20 per cent stake in the refinery, recently entered an agreement to supply 6 million barrels of crude oil as feedstock to the Dangote refinery in December, aiming to jumpstart operations.
According to a West African oil trader familiar with the matter, as quoted by S&P Global, the Suezmax tanker, chartered by the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), symbolises the initial crude supply to Dangote’s state-of-the-art refinery even as the magnificent edifice is set to begin fuel production.
On November 26, Aliko Dangote confirmed that the refinery will indeed begin operations in December 2023. According to Dangote, the long-awaited refinery is starting with 350,000 barrels a day, He also confirmed that a deal had already been clinched for the first cargo of about 6 million barrels of crude for delivery in December 2023.
DANGOTE Refinery is designed to process multiple crudes concurrently, the refinery aims to process three Nigerian crude grades — Escravos, Bonny Light, and Forcados. Upon reaching full operational capacity, the facility is anticipated to produce a daily output of 327,000 b/d of gasoline, 244,000 b/d of gasoil/diesel, 56,000 b/d of jet fuel/kerosene, and 290,000 mt/year of propane/LPG.
