Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery, a 650,000 barrels per day facility built by Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, will be inaugurated today, and Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, will play host to many oil and gas industry heavyweights who will arrive in the city from different parts of the world.
The refinery, which will be officially opened by President Muhammadu Buhari and seven African presidents, will change the global energy landscape and work to clean up the nation’s petroleum industry by stopping the export of foreign petrol.
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Presently, 80 per cent of fuel in Africa, from Cape Town to Dakar and other parts of the continent, are imported. This, the refinery is expected to address.
Expected at the historic event, apart from international dignitaries, are presidents of Togo, Gnassingbé Eyadéma; Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo; Senegal, Macky Sall; Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum; and Chad, Mahamat Déby.
The goodwill message would be delivered virtually by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who would not be present in person.
At the time this article was submitted, every one of Nigeria’s 36 state governors, as well as the majority of governors-elect, ministers, senators, and business leaders from abroad, had expressed a desire to attend the ceremony.
Bola Tinubu, the incoming president of Nigeria, is also anticipated at the occasion. In 2002, while serving as governor of Lagos, he established the Ibeju-Lekki Free Trade Zone, which is where the refinery is located.
The Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, described the facility as, “A continental game changer with huge capacity to positively transform Nigeria and African economy.”
President of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah, disclosed that the bank was the largest financer of the over $19 billion Dangote Refinery, the world’s biggest petroleum refining facility that would come into operation this month.
Some of the big names expected to attend the inauguration from Nigeria include Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari; Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe; and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Mr. Ahmed Farouk.
Others are Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Gabriel Aduda; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Adeniyi Adebayo; and Femi Otedola, among others.
Representatives of downstream associations, including Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN); Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN); and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) were also invited.
About Dangote Refinery
According to the project’s fact sheet released by Dangote Group, the refinery located in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, covers a land area of approximately 2,635 hectares, which is seven times the size of Victoria Island.
The refinery is the biggest refinery in Africa and also the biggest single-train refinery in the world. A single-train refinery uses an integrated distillation unit or one Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) to refine crude oil into various petroleum products, as against the use of multiple distillation units by big refineries.
Due to the large capacity of the refinery, its pipeline infrastructure is the largest anywhere in the world, with 1,100 kilometres to handle three billion Standard Cubic Feet per day (Scf/d) of gas.
The Dangote refinery has a 435MW-capacity power plant that is able to meet the total power requirement of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).
The refinery has the capacity to meet 100 per cent of the Nigerian requirement of all refined petroleum products, such as petrol – 53 million litres per day; diesel – 34 million litres per day; kerosene – 10 million litres per day; and Aviation Jet, two million litres per day. There is also surplus of each of these products for export.
Designed for 100 per cent Nigerian crude with flexibility to process other crudes, the refinery has a self-sufficient marine facility with ability for freight optimisation and also has largest single order of 5 SPMs anywhere in the world.
The refining plant has been described widely as a legacy project that will see Nigeria netting $21 billion per annum.
