Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery receives first oil delivery

Nigeria’s long-awaited Dangote Refinery has received its first delivery of 1 million barrels of oil, Reuters reported on Friday.

The cargo is sourced from the Chevron-led Agbami field near the Niger Delta and is the first of 6 million barrels necessary to start the project.

Delivery was handled by Shell International Trading and Shipping Company.

The 650,000-bpd refining and petrochemicals complex located near Lagos in the Lekki Free Zone was inaugurated in May 2023.

The mega-scale project was developed at a cost of around USD 19 billion.

Ranking as Africa’s largest refinery and the world’s largest single-train facility, the Dangote Refinery will meet 100% of the Nigerian requirement of all refined products and have a surplus of each of its products for export.

Its anticipated output includes 10.4 million tonnes of petrol per year, 4.6 million tonnes of diesel per year and 4 million tonnes of Jet A-1 per year. The complex’s urea fertiliser plant has a capacity of almost 3 million tonnes per year.

The Dangote Refinery has been under development since 2012 and was originally expected to be commissioned by Q4 2022.

“This is going to be one of the largest refineries in the world, and it will contribute about USD 13 billion to the Nigerian economy upon its completion,” Osam Iyahen of the Africa Finance Corporation told The Energy Year.

Read our latest interview with Osam Iyahen here.