Dangote Oil Refinery Company Limited yesterday said its $9 billion refinery would now come on stream by December 2017, one year ahead of an earlier December 2018 deadline. The Dangote refinery, located in Lekki, Lagos State, targets delivering 600,000 barrels of refined crude oil per day (bpd).
The latest move to fast-track the refinery operations’ take-off date was disclosed by the Senior General Manager, Civil and Structural, Mr. Madhav Kelkar, during a facility tour of the refinery by journalists in Lagos.
Kelkar explained that the conclusion of preliminary works at the refinery remained a major milestone, which was achieved in record time, a development, he said, was responsible for the shift in take-off date.
The refinery will produce gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel/ household kerosene, slurry as raw material for carbon black, as well as 750,000 mtpa of polypropylene.
According to him, the refinery is sited on 2,500 hectares of land and is also to include a 750,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene for the petrochemicals plant and another fertilizer plant, which would produce 2.8 million metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) of urea and ammonia.
He insisted that Dangote oil refinery project is the first of its kind, having the longest single train refinery in the world.
Kelkar disclosed that Dangote in its quest to build an oil refinery, petrochemicals and fertilizer plant of world-class standard assembled a team of top-notch engineering firms, with the largest dredging company in the world, Jan De Nul of Belgium working on the company’s dredging works, while Trevi Foundations and Onshore Constructions are working on piling.
Italian giant, Saipem, is handling Engineering and Procurement Contract (EPC) and Sarathy Geotech of India carrying out soil investigation.
Recall that the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) had in August 2015, signed an agreement with Dangote Group for a grant of $997,443 for the training of Dangote Oil Refining Company’s personnel, a subsidiary of the group. The USTDA grant will fund a multi-year programme to train over 100 Dangote Company staff on refinery fundamentals. Through the training, the Dangote staff will be able to operate and maintain the Greenfield Refinery in Lekki, Lagos.
President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, had said at the signing ceremony that “just over a year ago, with our decision to invest in a $9 billion 600,000 bpd refinery project, we decided to address the paradox of Nigeria being one of the world’s largest producer and exporter of crude oil but yet one of the largest importers of refined products.”
Credit: Daily Sun
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