By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The first private refinery in Nigeria is set to source for crude oil from other African countries, especially oil-rich Angola, Senegal and Libya, citing lack of availability in the local market.
“We will start importing crude oil from African countries. When we get to those countries, we’ll start negotiating with them. We’ll start bringing in from there.
“We have just bought from US and Brazil. So I think by next month, we’ll expand the scope to most of African countries.
“If we have availability in Nigeria, we won’t have to turn to these other countries,” Aliko Dangote, the Founder and CEO of Dangote Refinery said during a tour of his Lagos-based refinery on Saturday.
The refinery is expecting feedstock acquired from the US and Brazil in the coming months, the business mogul noted.
Heritage Times HT reports that Nigeria, the largest producer of crude in Africa largely depends on imported finished product to feed to local market.
Ironically, after completion of the long-awaited project expected to have ended import of finished products, Dangote Refinery will now depend on foreign market for crude already produced in Nigeria.
According to latest data from the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), an agency of the Federal Government, Nigeria’s oil output rose by 91,476 barrels per day to hit 1,426,574 barrels daily in January 2024, when compared to the production figure of 1,335,098bpd in December 2023.
Dangote has accused International Oil Companies (IOCs) of refusal to meet their demands, alleging that these IOCs prefer to sell the crude abroad.
In response, the NUPRC, has insisted that the IOCs meet local demands first, before exporting to other African countries.
At the moment, apart from the Dangote Refinery expected to churn out its first products this week, no single refinery is functional in the West African country since the return of democracy in the last 25 years.
When asked about the timeline for sourcing crude from these African countries, Dangote stated that it could begin as soon as next month.
“Very soon. I think by next month. You know crude, you have to book two months in advance. So, I’ll say October we’ll be bringing in from these African countries,” Dangote responded.
According to recent reports, Dangote refinery secured 6 million barrel crude oil from US, which is expected to reach the $19 billion facility by August.
In addition, the mega refinery will also receive about 5 million barrel of crude oil from US by September, data from Bloomberg show.
The CEO said the refinery will commence production of petrol between 10 and 15 of July, while supply to local marketers will commence from the third week of the same month.
“We had a bit of delay, but PMS will start coming out by 10 to 15 of July. But then we want to keep it in tank to make sure that it settles. So by third week of July, we’ll be able coming out to take it into the market,” Dangote said.
