•Buhari, Tinubu, African leaders, others to attend launching

•Refinery to meet daily fuel consumption, create 100,000 jobs

As the Dangote Refinery begins operations on Monday (today), the 650,000 barrels per day oil processing facility has been designed to process crude oil grades from the three continents of Africa, Asia and America.

It was also gathered that the refinery would deliver a surplus of about 38 million litres of petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel for Nigeria daily, hence it would meet the 100 per cent fuel supply requirement of the country.

Data in a document obtained from the company, on Sunday, showed that the Dangote Refinery could support the establishment of 26,716 fillings stations, create 100,000 direct and indirect jobs, and provide a $21bn market for Nigerian crude oil annually.

Early this month, it was reported that the Dangote Refinery, established by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is scheduled to be inaugurated on May 22.

A presidential aide, Bashir Ahmad, had tweeted that the inauguration would be done by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

“Efforts by the Federal Government to make Nigeria self-sufficient in local refining of crude oil to save the scarce foreign exchange used in the importation of petroleum products have received a boost as the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery, is set for inauguration on May 22nd, 2023, by President Muhammadu Buhari,” Ahmad announced.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical Project, a subsidiary of Dangote Industries Limited, is a 650,000 barrels per day crude oil refinery, located in Dangote Industries Free Zone, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is an industrial plant that transforms crude oil into various usable petroleum products such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and kerosene.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery with a capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day covers an area of approximately 2,635 hectares in the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos.

The refinery will produce Euro-V quality gasoline and diesel, as well as jet fuel and polypropylene.

The firm stated that the facility was “designed to process a large variety of crudes including many of the African crudes, some of the Middle Eastern crudes and the US (United States) Light Tight Oil.”

On the target market and petroleum sufficiency, it stated that the refinery could meet 100 per cent of the Nigerian requirement of all liquid products, including gasoline (petrol), diesel, kerosene and aviation jet, and would also have a surplus of each of these products for export.

“The refinery is designed to use the latest technology to comply with stringent guidelines and regulations to protect the local environment, and at the same time produce the latest environmentally friendly petroleum products for worldwide markets,” the document from the firm stated.

On fuel requirements in Nigeria and supply from the refinery, the document showed that the facility would produce a daily surplus of 38 million litres of petrol, kerosene, aviation fuel and diesel.

It stated that the refinery would produce a surplus of about 20 million litres of petrol daily, a surplus of one million litres of kerosene daily, a surplus of one million litres of JetA1 daily, and a surplus of 16 million litres of diesel daily.

For product evaluation, the refinery’s dispatch facilities by road (tanker) for the product (gasoline, diesel, kerosene/jet fuel, propane and slurry) is up to 80 per cent of the total production and up to 75 per cent through marine facilities.

It has a year-round operation for road loading operation, with a total of 177 tank farms with a capacity of 4.74 billion litres, and a total tanker loading of 2,900. “This number is based on a tanker capacity of 33 KL,” the firm stated.

It explained that the Dangote Refinery project was particularly complex, featuring engineering, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning, and related storage facilities, all located in the Dangote Industries Free Zone Area of Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.

“Dangote is one of the few companies in the world executing a petroleum refinery and a petrochemical complex directly as an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction contractor. Globally, apart from three companies, no individual owner has done the complete EPC contract for a petroleum refinery,” it stated.

The document further pointed out that the total number of temporary housing in the premises was for 33,000 people.

The refinery has its own dedicated steam and power generation system with adequate standby units for reliable/uninterrupted utility supply to operating plants. The power plant has a capacity of 435MW.

For the roll-on/roll-off quay, the document stated that Dangote Industries had developed a port and constructed quays with a load-bearing capacity of 25 tonnes/sq-meter to bring Over Dimensional Cargoes close to the site directly to handle liquid cargoes.

It stated that the jetty was situated at a distance of 12.3km from the refinery thereby effectively reducing the travel time, adding that there were over 1,029 trucks to improve the capacity of the local logistics.

On employment generation, the firm stated that the facility had a capacity of generating over 100,000 indirect employment at retail outlets, 26,716 filling stations and 129 depots in Nigeria, ease of availability of products by helping to open up service stations, and 16,000 trucks for transport that would create additional jobs.

It stated that over 30,000 were currently working at the petroleum refinery project site, through various contractors.

“When operational, the petroleum refinery is going to generate over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs for Nigerian youths,” the firm stated.