Dangote Refinery has advanced the production date of premium motor spirit, also known as petrol, from June to the middle of July.
The President and CEO of the refinery, Aliko Dangote, the refinery’s President and CEO, announced the new production date to reporters at the $20 billion facility in Lagos on Monday, according to Nairametrics.
Dangote stated that the date change was due to a little delay, resulting in a shift from June to mid-July.
He stated that the refinery will begin producing petrol between July 10 and 15, with supplies to local merchants beginning in the third week of the same month.
“We had a bit of delay, but PMS will start coming out by 10 to 15 of July. But then we want to keep it in tank to make sure that it settles. So by the third week of July, we’ll be able to come out to take it into the market,” Dangote said.
Earlier, the Dangote refinery was expected to begin production and supply of petrol this month, according to different reports.
For instance, analysts at the Standard and Poor’s’ Global (S&P Global) Commodities Insights predicted that the refinery will start supplying petrol in the fourth quarter of this year, particularly in the month of June.
“We are starting to see signs of activities, but all eyes are on when we’ll start to see gasoline production commence from that project. There is a significant amount of pressure from the Nigerian government for significant volume of that supply to be sent to the domestic market.
“In reality, when we see that start scale-up is still subject to debate. Dangote has recently been espousing some punchy timelines. They have most recently been saying that they are looking to produce gasoline by May. But in reality, our analysts expect that would be something like the fourth quarter of this year in a more realistic timeline,” the analysts said.
Export of Jet Fuel Meanwhile, the refinery has began supplying jet fuel and diesel to domestic marketers in the country.
In addition, the $20 billion facility started exporting its first jet fuel cargo to Europe.
The first shipment, loaded onto the vessel “Doric Breeze,” left the Lekki Free Zone in Lagos on May 27th and is now on its way to Rotterdam, Netherlands, as per data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea.
The Dangote refinery is projected to greatly reduce Nigeria’s reliance on imported petroleum products.
