Aliko Dangote, the President and CEO of the refinery, confirmed the new production date to the press at the $20 billion facility in Lagos on Monday. He stated that the change in date was due to a slight delay, prompting the shift from the originally proposed June to mid-July.

               According to Dangote, the refinery will commence production of petrol between 10 and 15 of July, while supply to local marketers will commence from the third week of the same month. He added that though there was a slight delay, PMS will start coming out by 10 to 15 of July, but they want to keep it in the tank to make sure that it settles, and by the third week of July, they’ll be able to come out to take it into the market.

              The refinery has already begun the supply of jet fuel and diesel to domestic marketers in the country, thereby reducing the prices of the products at the pump. 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 expected to significantly reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products. Nigeria, despite being the most populous country in Africa and its top oil producer, ironically imports almost all of its fuel. Primarily, this is attributed to the nation’s lack of sufficient refining infrastructure, a gap that the new refinery seeks to fill.

                Dangote said the refinery is positioned to be one of the best petroleum refineries in the world. He added that what they are doing is to be able to export petroleum products to anywhere and compete with any company. By next week, they’ll be producing about ten thousand ppm in terms of diesel which now what’s happening in that they import about 2 to 3 thousand. They will produce the best.