The Dangote Petroleum Refinery to save Nigeria US$43 Billion on annual refined petroleum importation

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote is set to save Nigeria US$43 billion on annual importation of petroleum oil products. The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is Africa’s biggest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility covering a land area of approximately 2,635 hectares, which is about six times the size of Victoria Island. According to The Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the Pipeline Infrastructure at the refinery is the largest pipeline infrastructure in the world, with 1,100 kilometres to handle 3 Billion Standard Cubic feet of gas per day.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has about sixteen oil storage facilities that can store 120 million litres of crude oil. According to Nairametrics, Nigeria daily consumption of petrol is estimated to be around 55 million litres a day. The Dangote Petroleum Refinery plans to process 650,000 barrels a day ( 103,350,000 Litres), which is almost twice the daily consumption of petrol in Nigeria.

What does this mean for the continent’s largest oil producer?

Nigeria is the eleventh largest oil producer worldwide and the first on the whole African continent. Even though the country is the largest oil producer in Africa, oil, fuel, and distillation products represent Nigeria’s main import sector. According to Statista, between January and March 2021, the import of petrol into Nigeria amounted to 688 trillion Naira that’s equivalent to 1,654,999,824,000.00 United States Dollars. The emergence of The Dangote Petroleum Refinery will eventually put an end to Nigeria’s oil shortages and massive losses incurred from the importation of refined oil products. This game-changing development will put a stop to the import of petroleum products, import duty, congestion of shipping ports in the country, and perhaps the massive corruption in the oil and gas industry which has plummeted the country’s economy. The refinery output will be more than enough to meet Nigeria’s fuel demands and turn the continent’s largest crude producer into an exporter of refined petroleum products. By 2023, the giant of Africa, Nigeria, will be fully petrol sufficient.

The Refinery will meet 100% of the Nigerian requirement of all refined products and also have a surplus of each of these products for export. Dangote Petroleum Refinery is a multi-billion dollar project that will create a market for $11 Billion per annum of Nigerian Crude. It is designed to process Nigerian crude with the ability to also process other crudes – Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

In a press briefing, the man behind this massive industrial revolution, Aliko Dangote said mechanically work has been completed and “hopefully before the end of the third quarter, we should be in the market.” The plant will start with a processing capacity of 540,000 barrels a day whilst “Full production can start maybe, by the end of the year or beginning of 2023,” Dangote said. The refinery plant cost the richest African an estimated US$19 billion to build with support from the Africa Development Bank which provided a loan of US$300 million. The loan was given to Dangote Industries Limited in 2014 to support the construction and operation of the plant.

Aliko Dangote is worth $20.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.