President Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has have revealed that first batch of products from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery will roll out before end of July.
Alhaji Dangote made this known during the commissioning of Dangote Refinery yesterday by President Muhammadu Buhari and five other presidents at Lekki, Lagos.
According to him, when fully operational, 60 percent of the refined PMS (petrol) will be dedicated to the local market and the remaining 40 per cent for export.
“Our first product will be in the market before the end of July this year. Once our plant is fully on stream, we expect that at least 40 percent of the capacity will be available for export,” said the promoter of the $18.5 billion refinery.
The President of Dangote Group, said besides helping to reposition the country as a key player in the Downstream Petroleum Sector of the global market, the refinery would contribute significantly to ”foreign exchange inflows into the country.‘’
He added that the group’s huge investment in the oil industry was prompted by its desire to support and contribute to the Federal Government’s sustained effort to transform the economy and reposition Nigeria as the leading nation in Africa, and a respected player among emerging economies.
He said: “This commissioning ceremony is just the beginning of a great journey, a milestone in a new and exciting trajectory for the downstream sector of Nigeria’s oil and gas Industry.
“It is our firm commitment that we will replicate in this sector, what we have achieved in the cement and fertiliser markets, where Nigeria transited from being the largest importer of these products to a net exporter.
The business mogul added that apart from ensuring a consistent supply of high-quality fuel, the refinery would provide essential raw materials to plastics, pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, packaging, and construction industries.
He further stated that the refinery’s operation and related businesses would generate a substantial number of job opportunities.
Dangote said: ‘’We have built a refinery with a capacity to process 650,000 barrels per day (plus 900,000 tonnes of polypropylene) in a single train – which is the largest in the world. We have selected the best plants and equipment and the latest technologies from across the world.
‘’Our products slate is designed to meet the highest quality standards and high-value products including Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel), Aviation Turbine Kerosine (ATK); all of Euro V Standards that will enable us not only meet our country’s demand but also to become a key player in the African and global market.
‘’Our coastal location and offshore loading and offloading (SPM) facilities with a capacity to receive all our crude oil supplies and evacuate up to 75 percent of our liquid products give us direct access to the rest of Africa and the global market for exports. In addition, 80 percent of our products can be discharged through trucks nationwide.’’
He recalled his initial attempt at acquiring a refinery under the Federal Government’s privatisation programme in 2006/2007, saying that its reversal served as an impetus for the first private refinery in Nigeria.
His words: “The privatisation policy was reversed and our payment returned. This motivated us to rethink our market-entry strategy and business model. We subsequently committed to entering the market boldly with a vision to invest in a greenfield refinery that will transform the industry in Nigeria and Africa.
“We decided on a plant designed with state-of-the-art technology and at a scale in a capacity that will be a game-changer in Africa and the globe.”
Beyond the inauguration, he said the first goal is to ramp up production of the various products to ensure that within this year, “we are able to fully satisfy our nation’s demand for high-quality products to enable us to eliminate the tragedy of import dependency.
“We also agreed that we must stop, once and for all, the dumping in our market of toxic sub-standard petroleum products.”
Dangote promised that apart from ensuring ”constant availability of high-quality fuel for our transportation sector, the refinery will also make available to our Industries, vital raw materials for a wide range of manufacturers in the plastics, pharmaceutical, food and beverages, packaging, construction, and many other industries.”
“This refinery will generate massive job opportunities while the downstream value chain will equally provide far more absorptive capacity for labour in hundreds of thousands,” he added.
By Ajibola Adedoye