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By Adewale Sanyaolu
The much awaited $21 billion Dangote refinery yesterday morning commenced operations with 350,000 barrels per day down from its initial capacity of 650,000 barrels per day The refinery, which has witnessed several shift in production dates due to logistics and other operational constraints, is set to bring a turnaround in Nigeria’s downstream industry.
Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, had last December in an interview, with Financial Times said the refinery was scaling down to begin operations with 350,000 bpd before ramping up production to 650,000 bpd by year end
But yesterday, the refinery started production as a gas flare stack was reported to have been seen at the refinery located in the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos State.
Head, Corporate Communications, Dangote Group, Mr.Tony Chiejina confirmed the development to Saturday Sun in a telephone interview.
‘‘Yes, it is true that we have commenced production Friday morning,’’ he said.
In December, the refinery received one million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO)
The STASCO cargo contained 1 million barrels from Agbami and sailed to Dangote Refinery’s Single Point Mooring (SPM) where it was discharged into the refinery’s crude oil tanks.
The maiden 1 million barrels, which represent the first phase of the six million barrels of crude oil to be supplied to Dangote Petroleum Refinery by a range of suppliers, should sustain the initial 350,000 barrels per day to be processed by the facility. The next four cargoes will be supplied by the NNPC in two to three weeks and the final of the six cargoes will be supplied by ExxonMobil.
This supply will facilitate the initial run of the refinery as well as kick-start the production of diesel, aviation fuel, and LPG before subsequently progressing to the production of Premium Motor Spirit
