The company said in a statement that “Dangote refinery appears set to commence production of refined petroleum products with the receipt of the sixth batch of barrels of crude supplied by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited.”
According to the company, the arrival of the latest batch, one million barrels of Agbami crude via MT ALMI SUN, marks the completion of the initial scheduled consignment of six million barrels destined for the Dangote facility.
The next step, according to the is to start up the crude distillation unit, which is a major component of the refinery, a senior company executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. That process would “most probably” begin this week, the executive added.
“Subsequently, we will be continuously buying crude and start commissioning the other departments,” said the executive. Saleable products will start coming from the first week itself. But, of course, the volume will be limited and the variety of saleable products will also be limited and it will start building up, as each major department gets commissioned.”
Experts say test runs include the different units that make products from gasoline to diesel and making sure they respond to the control panels. It can take months for refineries to move from test runs to producing high-quality fuels at full capacity, according to the experts. Dangote has said it will start by refining 350,000 bpd and hopes to ramp up to full production later this year.
The 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) plant, funded at a cost of $20 billion by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, was built at Lekki, on the outskirts of the commercial capital Lagos.
Nigeria currently imports most of its petrol but it is believed that the coming on stream of the Dangote Refinery will make the country self sufficient in petrol.
The country will also be able to export fuel to neighbours in West Africa, potentially transforming oil trading in the Atlantic Basin as Nigeria challenges U.S. and European energy companies that for years have powered the cars, trucks and generators in Africa.