Nigeria’s Dangote Oil Refinery has started processing gasoline following delays due to recent crude supply shortages, Reuters reported.
The $20 billion facility, built by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, commenced operations in January, producing naphtha and jet fuel.
With a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, Africa’s largest refinery aims to reduce Nigeria’s heavy dependence on imported oil products despite being a major oil producer.
“We are testing the product (gasoline) and subsequently it will start flowing into the product tanks,” said Devakumar Edwin, a vice president at Dangote Industries Limited.
While Edwin did not specify when the gasoline would be available in the local market, he mentioned that Nigeria’s state-owned oil company, NNPC Ltd, which is the sole importer of gasoline in the country, would be the exclusive buyer of the refinery’s gasoline.
“If no one is buying it, we will export it as we have been exporting our aviation jet fuel and diesel,” Edwin said.
The introduction of gasoline from the Dangote Oil Refinery is expected to ease NNPC’s ongoing challenges in supplying the Nigerian market.
The state oil company has been grappling with debts of $6 billion to oil traders since January, which has severely impacted its ability to meet local demand, leading to persistent fuel shortages since July.
Fuel prices have surged by 45% from the official price of 617 naira ($0.39) announced after the removal of subsidies last year. Despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, Nigeria imports nearly all of its fuel due to decades of neglect of its national refineries.
