(Lagos) After eight years of work, months of negotiations and several false starts, Africa’s largest refinery, owned by Nigerian tycoon Aliko Dangote, began delivering its first litres of petrol to Nigeria on Sunday.
About 500 tanker trucks were transported Sunday by the national oil company NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Company) to the refinery located more than 70 kilometers east of Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria, to take away 25 million liters of gasoline, also called PMS (Premium Motor Spirit), noted an AFP journalist on the scene.
The gigantic infrastructure, with an eventual capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, has cost a total of $20 billion, more than double the initial budget. It is supposed to be able to cover the entire fuel needs of Africa’s most populous country, as well as export part of its production.
Nigeria is the continent’s largest oil producer, but imports almost all of its fuel needs.
The country has four state-owned refineries (in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna), but none are operational anymore.
Nigerian Finance Minister Wale Edun, who was present at the event, hailed it as a “historic event” marking “the resumption of Nigeria’s march towards industrialisation”.
“Today, we have taken an important step towards energy self-sufficiency in Nigeria,” he said.
In total, “44% of the production” of the refinery “will meet the needs of the country” and “56% of the production will be exported”, which “will generate foreign exchange inflows”, explained Devakumar Edwin, vice-president of Dangote Industries.
The refinery, whose start-up has been repeatedly delayed, has long been presented to the public as a solution to Nigeria’s chronic gasoline shortages while maintaining low prices at the pump.
But nothing is less certain on this last point, while Nigerians have seen the price of a litre of petrol at the pump go from less than 200 naira (0.16 Canadian dollars) to 850 naira (0.70 Canadian dollars) in a year and a half.
The price of petrol initially tripled after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power, ending fuel subsidies that had kept prices artificially low for decades.
In early September, a surprise increase of almost 45% in the price at the pump was also implemented, all the more difficult to accept for Nigerians as the country is going through a serious economic crisis, with inflation exceeding 33% in July.
Aliko Dangote, ranked in 2024 by the magazine Forbes as the richest man in Africa for the 13the consecutive year, heads a conglomerate active in many sectors, including cement, sugar and fertilizers.
Dangote petrol is expected to be available at the pumps from 1er october.