Dangote Refinery Ready to Start Fuel Production as First Crude Shipment Arrives
The Dangote Refinery, a $19 billion project that aims to transform Nigeria’s oil industry, is set to start producing fuel as the first shipment of crude oil arrives at the facility.
According to S&P Global, a leading provider of financial information and analytics, the OTIS tanker, carrying 950,000 barrels of Nigeria’s Agbami crude, left the port on December 6 and is expected to reach Lekki, the nearest land port to Dangote’s offshore crude receiving terminal, on December 7 around 8pm.
This shipment marks the beginning of crude supplies for the refinery’s operations, which have been delayed by several factors, including the lack of domestic crude feedstock.
The refinery, which was officially completed in May, has a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, making it the largest single-train refinery in the world. It is expected to produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, kerosene, and other petroleum products for the domestic and regional markets, reducing Nigeria’s dependence on fuel imports and creating thousands of jobs.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), which owns a 20% stake in the refinery, recently signed an agreement to supply 6 million barrels of crude oil as feedstock to the Dangote refinery in December, aiming to jumpstart operations.
Agbami, operated by Chevron, is one of Nigeria’s major deepwater developments, with a daily output of about 100,000 barrels. It is known for its light sweet crude qualities, with a specific gravity of 47.9 API and a sulphur content of 0.04%. Agbami yields high proportions of naphtha and kerosene, which are valuable for refining.
