Africa-based Dangote Group has announced that it will begin operations by the end of 2017 or first half of 2018 at its oil refinery located in Lagos, Nigeria
George Nicolaides, operations director for petroleum refining at Dangote Group, said that the oil refinery will be able to process 500,000 bpd of crude oil.
“The site is being cleared, the plant is being designed. We are close to the beginning of detailed engineering. We have selected Engineers India to do the detailed engineering work for the new plant. Construction contractors are yet to be appointed,” Nicolaides added.
In September 2013, Dangote Group had announced that it agreed on a US$3.3bn loan from 12 Nigerian and foreign lenders to build the refinery at Lagos. At the time, the facility was expected to be completed in 2016 and the capacity of the refinery was put at 400,000 bpd.
Dangote Group said that Nigeria is Africa’s top producer of crude oil but the country relies on fuel imports to meet more than 70 per cent of its needs.
“Supplying the local market of the country is the primary objective. Naturally we can move product to the region. The government is being very supportive, very enthusiastic about this project. We are not looking for any particular subsidies,” noted Nicolaides.
