22 May 2023
The seemingly unattainable Refinery project by President Mohaamodu Buhari in his eight years administration has finally come to reality today {Monday} as Dangote commissions his refinery, “Dangote Refinery”
Stakeholders count the gains of the facility as it begins operations with its 650,000 barrels per day oil processing facility designed to process crude oil grades from the three continents of Africa, Asia and America.
It was also gathered that the refinery would deliver a surplus of about 38 million litres of petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel for Nigeria daily, hence it would meet the 100 per cent fuel supply requirement of the country.
Data in a document obtained from the company, on Sunday, showed that the Dangote Refinery could support the establishment of 26,716 fillings stations, create 100,000 direct and indirect jobs, and provide a $21bn market for Nigerian crude oil annually
This is coming as some stakeholders are of the opinion that the Nigeria’s 445,000 barrels per day refineries, despite being repaired, may become obsolete and difficult to sell going by the new Dangote Refinery.
of a real concerns are the opinions of stakeholders who spoke in separate interviews has urged Nigerians to get ready to buy products at a higher price as they insisted that while the new refinery broke the monopoly in the sector, pricing mechanism would have to change.
In promises detailed in the APC policy document and manifesto, Buhari’s 100 days covenant, speeches at campaign rallies and town hall meetings, Buhari before
winning the 2015 election, pledged to remove fuel subsidy and fix the refineries, barely nine days to leave office the promises remained a mirage.
Although the refineries have been awarded, the Port-Harcourt Refinery has failed deadlines given by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
While Europe is relying on Nigeria for crude export after banning export from Russia, its previous reliance on African countries would face a yearly reduction.
Nigeria currently send about 547.5 million barrels of crude into the international market yearly, with an agreement to supply 300, 000 barrels per day to the Dangote Refinery, adding to its regional supplies, the oil market would automatically face a shortfall of 109.5 million barrels yearly. With obligations to supply about 445,000 barrels per day, initially meant for the refineries to contractors on the Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) deal, the development could push Europe to rely more on Middle East and Asia to meet its supply while the global market could have close 700,000bpd shortfall from Nigeria.
In 2022, the West African bloc was supplying about additional 200,000 barrels per day to Europe to augment the loss from Russia.
On the product side, while the West Africa region imported about one million barrels per day of petroleum products last year, with 60 per cent of all products coming from Europe, at full capacity, Dangote Refinery alone would have reduced the import by over 65 per cent if most West African countries turn to the refinery for supply.
