‘The country often faces chronic fuel shortages, as its existing refineries had been completely shut down for over three years owing to oil theft, pipeline vandalism and structural neglect’
By Valentine Amanze
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said that his mission was to meet the oil products’ need of Nigerians.
He disclosed this at the official launch of the $19 billion Africa’s biggest oil refinery, Dangote Oil Refinery in Lagos on Monday May 22, 2023.
His words: “Our first goal is to ramp up production of the various products to ensure that within this year, we are able to fully satisfy the nation’s demand for quality products.”
Also, President Muhammadu Buhari, at the event, commended Dangote for the yet to be operational plant, with the capacity to produce about 650,000 barrels of petroleum products a day – more than enough to supply the country’s needs.
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“This is a game-changer for the Nigerian people,” said Buhari of the facility, which includes a power station, deep seaport and fertiliser plant.
Recall that Nigeria is a major oil producer/ exporter, and also a major importer of the refined fuel used in vehicles and elsewhere.
The country often faces chronic fuel shortages, as its existing refineries had been completely shut down for over three years owing to oil theft, pipeline vandalism and structural neglect.
Meanwhile, it is not clear what impact the plant will have on the price of fuel in a country where retail prices are subsidised.
The government had assured of plans to remove the subsidies soon.
Dangote’s plant in Lagos, which took nearly seven years to build, is said to be the world’s largest single-train refinery, meaning the plant has one integrated distillery system which can produce a variety of products and petrochemicals, instead of having different units for each type of product, according to BBC.
Oil and gas expert, Henry Adigun, told the BBC that Monday’s launch was “more political than technical”.
valoa2000@yahoo.com
