Dangote’s giant new facility in Nigeria, near the commercial hub of Lagos, is poised to produce massive amounts of road fuel, according to Bloomberg. The plant will be able to process 650,000 barrels of oil a day when at full capacity, turning more than half of that into gasoline.
The increase is likely to be welcomed in the country as the state-owned oil company – Nigeria’s main fuel importer – has said its ability to supply gasoline is being hampered by debt and rising prices.
Dangote’s output will impact billions of dollars in trade in regional fuel markets and beyond. Nigeria is a global demand sink for the fuel, receiving nearly 250,000 barrels a day in shipments last year, mostly from Europe, according to data from analytics firm Vortexa Ltd.
Key to the plant’s gasoline production is a unit called a reformer, which produces blendstock for road fuel. This has begun operating, with gasoline production expected to begin by the end of the week.
At full capacity, the refinery is expected to be able to produce about 330,000 barrels of gasoline per day, according to Randy Hurburun, a senior refinery analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects Ltd. That’s more than 1% of global demand for the road fuel, which is about 27 million barrels per day.
Still, those volumes are a long way off, with Energy Aspects forecasting around 90,000 barrels per day of production in the fourth quarter, rising to nearly 250,000 in the second half of next year.
The refinery has been gradually ramping up after years of delays. Plant owner Aliko Dangote said in July that he was planning to start producing gasoline from August.
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2024-09-02 22:00:05