{"id":14036,"date":"2023-05-22T11:47:02","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T10:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedailyleaks.com\/?p=14036"},"modified":"2023-05-22T11:47:02","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T10:47:02","slug":"nigeria-buhari-to-commission-dangote-refinery-amid-hopes-of-end-to-fuel-shortages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedailyleaks.com\/nigeria-buhari-to-commission-dangote-refinery-amid-hopes-of-end-to-fuel-shortages\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria: Buhari to commission Dangote refinery amid hopes of end to fuel shortages"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nigeria’s Dangote Petroleum Refinery will be commissioned on Monday, May 22, 2023, amid hopes of an end to the country’s recurring fuel shortages, but a lack of crude supply poses a major risk to it achieving full production.<\/p>\n
Despite being Africa’s biggest oil producer, Nigeria imports petrol, diesel and processed petroleum products because its refineries were run down over the years.<\/p>\n
The government of outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari sees the 650,000 barrels a day (bpd) refinery as the answer to repeated fuel shortages, the\u00a0latest<\/a> of which hit the country in the run-up to February’s disputed presidential election.<\/p>\n Built by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, the massive complex is one of Nigeria’s single largest investments. It has a 435-megawatt power station, deep seaport and fertiliser unit<\/a>.<\/p>\n The cost of the refinery grew to $19 billion from initial estimates of between $12 billion and $14 billion, after years of delays.<\/p>\n Dangote expects to begin refining crude in June but London-based research consultancy Energy Aspects said commissioning was an intricate process and expects operations to start later this year, reaching 50-70% next year, with a staggered process of other units into 2025.<\/p>\n ALSO READ:\u00a0Buhari inaugurates Nigeria End Malaria Council, appoints Dangote as Chairman<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The refinery needs a constant supply of crude but Nigeria’s oil production has been declining due to\u00a0oil theft<\/a>, vandalism of pipelines and underinvestment. In April, production\u00a0fell under 1 million bpd<\/a>, below Angola’s output.<\/p>\n Lower production would affect state-owned oil company NNPC Ltd’s ability to fulfil an agreement to supply Dangote refinery with 300,000 bpd of crude, said economist Kelvin Emmanuel, who authored a report on oil theft last year.<\/p>\n NNPC, with a 20% stake in the refinery, has production sharing agreements with oil majors like Exxon Mobil, Shell and Eni and is entitled to a portion of the crude, which it also swaps with traders for petrol and diesel.<\/p>\n The refinery has not signed an agreement to buy from oil majors in Nigeria.<\/p>\n That could see Dangote importing crude from traders like Trafigura and Vitol, Emmanuel said, at a time local refining was expected to save foreign exchange and keep prices lower.<\/p>\n “There are risks with supply of crude oil feedstock. I know that his (Aliko Dangote) risk mitigation is to import oil and if he does that there is a risk to the price because he cannot be buying in dollars and sell in naira,” said Emmanuel.<\/p>\n Nigeria runs a petrol subsidy that the finance minister has said could run past June when it was expected to be scrapped. The subsidy took nearly a third of Nigeria’s national budget<\/a>\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n Energy Aspects, however, said in the long run, the Dangote refinery could end Nigeria’s gasoline deficit, reshape the Atlantic basin gasoline market and export diesel that meets European Union specifications.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nigeria’s Dangote Petroleum Refinery will be commissioned on Monday, May 22, 2023, amid hopes of an end to the country’s recurring fuel shortages, but a lack of crude supply poses a major risk to it […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,2],"tags":[1903,2656],"coauthors":[25],"class_list":{"0":"post-14036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"category-latest-news","9":"category-top-news","10":"tag-aliko-dangote","11":"tag-refinery"},"yoast_head":"\n