The Dangote refinery will start the production of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) and JetA1 (aviation fuel) in January 2024.
However, the production of Premium Motor Spirit popularly called petrol is being delayed by the supply of crude oil in instalments.
This is because the facility requires a minimum of six million barrels of crude oil to kick-start the full production of refined petroleum products including Automotive Gas Oil (diesel), Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), Jet A1 (aviation fuel), and Dual Purpose Kerosene (kerosene).
However, the 650,000 barrels per day (b/d) refinery received its initial crude feedstock of 1 million barrels in the country last week. The remaining five million barrels are expected to arrive at the $20 billion facility in five more instalments.
The highly anticipated Dangote refinery, considered a transformative project for Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa, achieved official completion in May.
However, it fell short of its scheduled production commencement in August, encountering multiple delays, primarily linked to a scarcity of domestic crude feedstock.
When contacted on Sunday to confirm whether the company would start pumping out refined PMS based on the one million barrels of crude that it received on Friday, an official of the firm stated that what Nigerians should expect in January would be diesel and aviation fuel, PUNCH reported.
What the source said:
“For a 650,000bpd capacity refinery, it requires a minimum of six million barrels to start production, and what we have done now is to receive one million barrels and it is being discharged,”
“Ultimately, what that (the one million barrels receipt) means is that by January, maybe in the second week, we should start having diesel, after which aviation fuel will come before we now cascade to PMS,” the source stated.
According to a statement from Dangote Refinery on the receipt of its maiden crude cargo, “The maiden one million barrels, which represent the first phase of the six million barrels of crude oil to be supplied to Dangote Petroleum Refinery by a range of suppliers, should sustain the initial 350,000 barrels per day to be processed by the facility.
“The next four cargoes will be supplied by the NNPC in two to three weeks and the final of the six cargoes will be supplied by ExxonMobil.
“This supply will facilitate the initial run of the refinery as well as kick-start the production of diesel, aviation fuel, and LPG, before subsequently progressing to the production of Premium Motor Spirit,” the company stated.
