When My Refinery Is Ready, Nigeria Will No Longer Import Petrol - Dangote

Aliko Dangote has given assurance to Nigerians that when his refinery is set for operations, the country would no longer need to import petroleum products.

According to The Cable, Dangote expressed confidence that with the coming of his refinery, Nigeria will no longer import fertilizer, rather, the nation will resume as an exporter of refined crude and fertilizer.
“Today, Nigeria imports 100 percent of its fertilizer, but when we finish, Nigeria will be the largest exporter of Urea and Ammonia in Africa
The refinery is the largest single line in Africa and it will meet our total domestic requirement and save foreign exchange
Thirty-eight per cent of CBN’s foreign exchange is spent on importation of petroleum products. But we can serve the whole West African market.”Dangote said.
Dangote said he had been working with the government and the central bank of Nigeria (CBN) in diversifying the economy. “We are going to serve the whole domestic market in the next 10 years and also export. We have actually been doing this for a very long time to diversify the economy.
 “The government will lay down the policies. The CBN will assist in terms of long-term funding through the banks and even directly now because they have actually helped us quite a lot. That is what we are now trying to do.”
The Dangote refinery, located in Lekki, Lagos State, targets delivering 600,000 barrels of refined crude oil per day (bpd).
The refinery will produce gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel/ household kerosene, slurry as raw material for carbon black, as well as 750,000 mtpa of polypropylene.
Italian giant, Saipem, is handling Engineering and Procurement Contract (EPC) and Sarathy Geotech of India carrying out soil investigation.
The $9 billion refinery would now come on stream by December 2017, one year ahead of an earlier December 2018 deadline.