Dangote refinery to begin operation 2018

Indication emerged on Monday that Dangote Group’s oil refinery project for Nigeria would come on stream in 2018.

The Director of Petroleum Refining, Dangote Industries, Mr. George Nicolaides, said in an interview at the Platts African Refining Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, on Monday that the plant located at Olokola Free Trade Zone, Ondo State, would process 500,000 barrels of crude a day.

“The site is being cleared; the plant is being designed,” Nicolaides was quoted by Bloomberg as saying, “We are close to the beginning of detailed engineering.”

Dangote had said in September last year that it had agreed on a $3.3bn loan with 12 Nigerian and foreign lenders to build the refinery as well as a petrochemical and fertilizer complex costing a total of $9bn.

The facility was initially expected to be completed in 2016 and the capacity of the refinery was put at 400,000 barrels a day.

The refinery, according to the President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, will generate over 10,000 direct jobs and end the importation of refined petroleum products into the country. ...Punch