Africa’s richest man and Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has affirmed that the $20bn Dangote refinery in Lekki, Lagos would kickstart the refining of 350,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
The businessman made this confirmation during an interview with the Financial Times, adding that the refinery would receive about six million barrels of crude in December 2023.
His words were; “We’re starting with 350,000 barrels a day, stressing that a deal had already been clinched for the “first cargo of about 6mn barrels” for delivery next month.
Dangote said he believed the refinery could reach its capacity of 650,000 barrels a day by the end of 2024, although the IMF has said it doubts it will reach more than a third of that by 2025.
At full tilt, the refinery, the world’s largest “single train” facility with just one distillation unit, could save Nigeria billions in foreign exchange currently spent on imported fuel, Dangote asserted while maintaining that it was “shameful”, that Nigeria, a major oil producer for more than 50 years, could not refine its own crude in anything like sufficient quantity.
The business guru conceded there were times when he thought the massive project — long delayed and about $8bn over budget — might jeopardise his business empire.
“The challenges that we faced, I don’t know whether other people can face these challenges and even survive,” he said. “It’s either we sink or we sail through. And we thank the Almighty that at least we’ve arrived at the destination.
Yet in what is supposed to be Dangote’s moment of triumph, he finds himself under intense pressure. A rival industrialist has accused him of underhand business practices and of gaining unfair access to foreign exchange from a central bank whose former governor is now being investigated by the authorities. Dangote has denied both allegations.
In addition, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has been unable or unwilling to supply him with the crude his refinery needs, although Dangote insists it is only a matter of weeks before oil starts flowing.
|The Punch/Financial Times
