The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has debunked reports that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) was not ready to provide crude for the take-off of it’s Refinery in Lagos.
Dangote, while reacting to the media reports, described the NNPC Limited as a responsive partner that will provide the needed support for the commencement of operations at the 650,000 barrels per day Refinery.
In a brief note issued on Wednesday, Dangote said the Mele Kyari-led NNPC was ready and willing to supply the Refinery with crude oil in few weeks’ time to enable the commencement of refining operations at the facility.
The President of the $19.5 billion facility, reputed to be the world’s largest single-train Refinery, made the clarification following misconceptions drawn from a recent interview granted to S&P Global Commodity Insights, by the company’s Group Executive Director, Devakumar Edwin.
But Dangote, in the statement issued yesterday, said NNPC had never denied the company’s crude oil supply, contrary to some media reports making the rounds.
He noted that the NNPC had been very encouraging and supportive in their business trajectory in the areas of oil and gas.
Dangote further said: “Being a shareholder and a responsive partner, it is an aberration to assume that the NNPC will in anyway do anything to truncate or delay the commencement of operations of our Refinery. We will start refining with our Nigeria crude.
“We deeply appreciate our partnership with the NNPC and its subsidiaries, under the leadership of Group Chief Executive Officer, (GCEO) NNPC Ltd., Mr. Mele Kyari” Dangote concluded.
The refinery, which was commissioned by former President Muhammadu Buhari in May, is the world’s largest single-train refinery, with a 650,000 barrels per day facility built by Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
Located in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, it covers a land area of approximately 2,635 hectares, which is seven times the size of Victoria Island.
The Refinery has the capacity to meet 100 per cent of the Nigerian requirement of all refined petroleum products, such as petrol – 53 million litres per day; diesel – 34 million litres per day; kerosene – 10 million litres per day; and Aviation Jet, two million litres per day.
The NNPC has already taken 20 per cent equity stake in the Refinery and will from this week start supplying 300,000 Barrels of Crude oil per day to the facility.
