Dangote Refinery To Kick Start Production With Six Cargoes of Crude from NNPCL

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Plant in Nigeria, which can process 650,000 barrels per day, has bought one million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited, STASCO, after facing months of setbacks.

The company also disclosed that Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited will deliver the next four cargoes in two to three weeks, and ExxonMobil will provide the last six cargoes.

The company made this announcement in a statement on Thursday.

It said that the first phase of the 6 million barrels of crude oil should support the initial 350,000 barrels per day.

“The STASCO cargo had 1 million barrels from Agbami and reached Dangote Refinery’s Single Point Mooring (SPM), which was emptied into the refinery’s crude oil tanks.

“The NNPC will bring the following four cargoes in two to three weeks, and ExxonMobil will bring the final of the six cargoes,” the statement partly said.

It reminded me that on May 22, last year, former president Muhammadu Buhari launched the Dangote refinery, expecting to start operation in July.

But, months after the launch, the refinery did not start.

The Executive Director of Dangote Group, Devakumar Edwin, says its refinery will get its first crude oil cargo and start its operation in October 2023.

But the Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, had expressed worries over the failure of Dangote Refinery.