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Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the President of the Dangote Group, has announced that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has accumulated a significant stock of over 500 million litres of petrol, reinforcing its production capacity.
Dangote further stated that the refinery now produces sufficient fuel to meet both local demand and export needs. He made this remark on Saturday while hosting Zambia’s Minister for Energy, Makozo Chikote, during a tour of the $20 billion facility in Lekki, Lagos. Chikote’s visit was aimed at exploring potential collaboration to address Zambia’s energy security challenges.
Addressing officials during the facility tour, Dangote revealed that the refinery’s tank farm currently holds stock valued at N600 billion. He added that the plant is on track to reach its maximum production capacity of 650,000 barrels per day next month, emphasizing that Nigeria’s consumption remains below 50% of the refined products.
Discussing the issue of fuel quality, Dangote stated that refineries around the world are shutting down because of the competitive edge his refinery brings. He emphasized that no refinery across Africa or Europe can match the quality of fuel produced at the Dangote refinery.
He said the sulphur content of his fuel could be as low as zero parts per million while the octane number can be 95.
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“In terms of quality, there is actually no refinery in Africa, even in Europe that can produce our type of quality. We want to be flexible, you know the laws keep changing.”
Today, they will say 150 parts per million; tomorrow it’s 50 ppm, but we can produce up to zero ppm. This means we can do winter diesel, we can do Euro-5. No refinery around here can do that. When you read the news, you see that a lot of refineries now, especially in Europe, shutting down because of our own refinery. Our refinery is a percentage of the world’s production.
“Obviously, if we pump a lot, some of them will not be able to sell, that’s why in some countries, they will offer them money to just keep dumping. But then, we have to weather that storm up to the time that we will be able to be on our feet,” he added.
Dangote maintained that the local fuel consumption in Nigeria is 40 per cent of the refinery’s total production, stating that the remaining 60 per cent is for export to other countries, especially Africa.
He revealed that arrangements were being made with Afreximbank to resolve the challenges of letters of credit and financing.
