Fresh relief on the price of petrol products is on the way for Nigerians in the new year following plans by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) for the Mechanical Completion of Warri Refinery and Petrochemical by the end of January 2024.
If achieved according to a source at the NNPC, a test run of the plant will be conducted in February so that the facility can become operational by the second quarter of 2024.
The cheering news came as the Dangote Refinery is said to have received at least four cargoes of crude oil put at one million barrels each so far. The remaining two million barrels will be supplied in January 2024
The price of the products has hit the roof since May 29 when the fuel subsidy was removed, creating hardship for Nigerians who had to contend with a high price of fuel in addition to the price of food items that have revved up since the beginning of the year.
The NNPCL and its management are said to have determined that both Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries will be operational by the first half of 2024 to ease the country’s dependence on fuel importation.
He said that even though the volume of refined petrol from both the 60, 000 barrels from Port Harcourt Refinery and the 125,000 barrels from Warri Refinery and Petrochemical will not be made public now, the product from them, coupled with what will be coming from Dangote Refinery will significantly help the country to stem the tide of petrol importation by the Nigerian Government.
He said the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company is the only one we are not sure when it will start production next year but surely, work is ongoing to revive the plant and save foreign exchange, and create jobs for the country.
However, people must note that Mechanical Completion is not a full rehabilitation of the plants but a process leading to that.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri stated in August this year that Nigeria expects its four oil refineries to be operational by the end of next year, starting with the Port Harcourt plant in 2023 December.
“From what we have seen here today, Port Harcourt refinery will come on board by the end of the year,” he said, adding that two other facilities in Warri and Kaduna will start processing crude between the first quarter and end of 2024.
Regarding Dangote refinery, “I can assure you that Dangote Refinery has about four million barrels of crude oil it received from its jetty”, stated a source who said the remaining two million barrels will be supplied in January 2024
The Dangote Refinery has taken delivery of crude oil from some deepwater FPSO. They have received over 2 million barrels.
The plant according to reports will need at least six million barrels before it starts operations. Once the six million barrels are fully delivered, it will facilitate the initial run of the refinery as well as kick-start the production of diesel, aviation fuel, and LPG before subsequently progressing to the production of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
This latest development will play a pivotal role in alleviating the fuel supply challenges faced by Nigeria as well as the West African countries.
The expected respite will not come the way of Nigerians immediately. This is because the plant will start refining Automotive Oil otherwise known as Diesel, Aviation fuel, and other products that are already deregulated before it commences production of petrol.
So as the company could not get the required six million barrels at once, it means a further delay in processing petrol. The petrol from Dangote Refinery may not significantly change the price of petrol in Nigeria, but at least there would be respite that there will be a constant source of supply.
Designed for 100% Nigerian crude with the flexibility to process other crudes, the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery can process most African crude grades as well as Middle Eastern Arab Light and even US Light tight oil as well as crude from other countries.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery can meet 100% of Nigeria’s requirement of all refined products, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation jet, and also has a surplus of each of these products for export.
Managing Director of Dangote Ports Operations, Mr. Akin Omole told newsmen at the Dangote Quay, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos that the Refinery is expecting more crudes before the end of this year to put the Refinery in good stead to commence operation.
The one million barrels represent the second phase of the 6 million barrels of crude oil to be supplied to Dangote Petroleum Refinery by a range of suppliers for the production of petroleum products.
The refinery was built to take crude through its two SPMs located 25 kilometres from the shore and to discharge petroleum products through three separate SPMs. In addition, the refinery can load 2,900 trucks a day at its truck-loading gantries.
Dangote Refinery has a self-sufficient marine facility with the ability to handle the largest vessel globally available. In addition, all products from the refinery will conform to Euro V specifications.
The refinery is designed to comply with US EPA, European emission norms, and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) emission/effluent norms as well as African Refiners and Distribution Association (ARDA) standards.
While receiving the first consignment, President of Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko Dangote had stated: “We are delighted to have reached this significant milestone. This is an important achievement for our country as it demonstrates our ability to develop and deliver large capital projects. Our focus over the coming months is to ramp up the refinery to its full capacity. I look forward to the next significant milestone when we deliver the first batch of products to the Nigerian market.”
Also the Country Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor had said: “We welcome the startup of a refinery that is designed to produce gasoline, diesel, and low-sulphur fuels for Nigeria and across West Africa and are happy to be enabling it.”
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