The long-awaited Dangote Refinery will start operations next month (December) with an initial target of 350,000 barrels per day.
Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, who confirmed this in a November 25 interview with the Financial Times (FT), said a deal had already been sealed for the first cargo of about 6 million barrels of crude for delivery in December 2023.
“We are starting with 350,000 barrels a day. The challenges that we faced, I don’t know whether other people can face these challenges and even survive. It is either we sink, or we sail through. And we thank Almighty that at least we have arrived at the destination,” Dangote said.
Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited will supply 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day to the Dangote Refinery (amounting to a total of 6 million barrels) next month as part of a one-year supply agreement.
Dangote told the Financial Times that he held a strong belief in the refinery’s capability to achieve its maximum output of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of 2024.
Emphasizing that the company had successfully resolved all challenges related to crude oil supply, he disclosed plans for the Dangote refinery to eventually become an independent entity listed on the Nigerian Exchange.
Expanding on the refinery project, Dangote expressed that this kind of project won’t emerge in Nigeria within the next 20 years.
He also said the company did not cut corners or seek applause, but the project was done for the sake of posterity.
During the FT interview, Dangote dismissed the idea that the NNPCL was pushing for a larger stake in the refinery project. He mentioned that once fully operational, the refinery is estimated to generate a substantial annual revenue of $25 billion.
Africa’s richest man expressed confidence that NNPCL is content with the shares already allocated to it in the project, Moneycentral reports.
