The Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest and newest crude processing facility, is delaying the start of gasoline deliveries until the middle of July, the Dangote group’s president Aliko Dangote told Nigerian media this week.
“We had a bit of delay, but it will start coming out 10/15 of July,” said Dangote, Africa’s richest man, commenting on the beginning of gasoline production at the huge refinery which started operations in January.
“By third week of July, we will be able to take it into the market,” Dangote said in a video posted by Nigerian station Channels TV.
The facility began the production of fuels in January 2024, marking the start-up of the facility that has seen years of delays.
“Dangote Petroleum Refinery has commenced production of diesel and aviation fuel,” the group said in a statement at the time, adding that the new refinery is “a game changer for our country.”
The refinery, which has a processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd), will meet 100% of Nigeria’s demand for all refined petroleum products and will also have a surplus of each of the products for export.
The Dangote refinery expects to export diesel to customers in Europe, as well as gasoline to Latin American and African markets. However, production of Euro V gasoline, the gasoline complying with Europe’s emissions standards, is not expected to be produced until late 2024, according to analysts at Facts Global Energy.
Aliko Dangote is also looking to set up a trading firm that would handle crude supply for the new mega refinery in Nigeria, Reuters reported in March, citing multiple sources with knowledge of the plans.
Dangote wants to try and set up a trading arm to handle trade for the huge refinery, after major oil trading houses and supermajors haven’t signed any deals with Africa’s richest person regarding possible loans to the refinery for the crude it would need to purchase, according to Reuters’ sources.
