Dangote Oil Refinery is on track to achieve full operational capacity within the next 30 days, according to Mr Edwin Devakumar, Dangote Group’s Vice President for Oil and Gas.
The 650,000-barrel-per-day facility, built by Nigerian billionaire, Mr Aliko Dangote, in Lagos, began processing crude into diesel, naphtha, and jet fuel in January 2024 and started refining petrol last September.
Currently operating at 85 per cent capacity, the refinery is poised to scale up.
“We can go 100 per cent in 30 days,” Mr Devakumar stated on Monday.
Despite an agreement with the Nigerian government to purchase crude in Naira from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the refinery struggled last year to secure adequate local supply, leading it to import crude.
In response, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the oil regulator, has mandated that local oil producers supply 550,000 barrels per day to the refinery between January and June, warning that export permits would be blocked for producers failing to meet quotas.
Meanwhile, Dangote Refinery is actively exploring global markets for its refined products.
Mr Dangote recently revealed that the refinery had dispatched two cargoes of jet fuel to Saudi Aramco as part of its expansion strategy.
“We are looking at all the markets right now,” Mr Devakumar confirmed.
Despite these developments, the refinery still faces challenges distributing the products at home with local fuel traders and even the NNPC importing refined products.