Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has pledged support of the Federal Government towards ensuring the completion of the historic 650 000 bpd Dangote Petroleum Refinery during an official visit to the petrochemical complex, located at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, Nigeria.
The minister was led on a tour of the refinery by the Group President/Chief Executive, Aliko Dangote, and the company's Executive Director, Strategy, Capital Projects and Portfolio Development, Devakumar Edwin.
He said: “This is a very heart-warming moment for all of us as Nigerians. There is no way a project of this magnitude will be going on and government will not be interested. Anywhere in the world, if a citizen of a country has committed so much money into investing in this kind of massive project, government must show interest.
“I must say now that Dangote Group has turned this project to the story of all of us, we must all support this project to succeed, because the success of this project signals a lot. Of course, I am sure that the whole world is looking at the success of this project. Investors all over the world will look at the success of this project and will come to Nigeria to at least also enjoy the benefit of investing here. So, we are actually here to assure you, Dangote Group, that as a government, as NNPC, we will support this project as much as we can. You have definitely done very well.”
Sylva said the Dangote refinery and petrochemical complex was a testament that the country possesses enabling environment for businesses to thrive and added that the success of the project will boost investor confidence in the country’s oil and gas projects. He implored Nigerians to support the refinery project with a view to ensuring that it creates more value addition to the economy.
Devakumar Edwin added that the new asset creates a market for 11 billion bpy of Nigerian crude and can meet 100% of Nigerian requirements for liquid products.
He said that Nigeria is Africa’s largest crude oil producer, but lacks refining capacity to meet its own fuel needs.
“The Dangote refinery, which is designed to maximise petrol output, will produce enough to allow for a small surplus of that fuel for export. It will also be able to send a large volume of diesel and jet fuel to international markets.”
Dangote plans to export its diesel to Europe and gasoline to Latin America, Western and Central African markets, Edwin added.
“We are thinking of investing in vessels. We want to make sure we are not held for ransom by any transport operators. Africa’s largest oil refinery had revealed that it would deliver its fuels to Nigerian consumers via roads and sea ports, and will effectively replace all of Nigeria’s fuel imports once fully operational.”