After seven years of construction, the Dangote oil refinery, a 650,000 barrels day (BPD) integrated refinery and petrochemical located in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, Nigeria was completed in 2023, becoming Africa’s biggest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility.
The US $12bn project was announced in 2013 by the Dangote group, however, construction did not begin until 2016. The Refinery was originally meant to be built in the oil-producing state of Ondo but due to a lack of political will from the State Government, the project was moved to Lagos state.
The Dangote oil refinery will process a variety of light and medium grades of crude to produce Euro-V quality clean fuels including gasoline and diesel as well as jet fuel and polypropylene.
The processing facilities include a crude distillation unit (CDU) and associated facilities, a mild hydrocracking (MHC) unit, a residual fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit, a naphtha hydrotreater, and a gasoline hydrodesulfurization (HDS) unit as well as alkylation units.
The refinery complex will also house sulfur recovery and hydrogen generation facilities and a polypropylene unit. Comprising two steam methane reformer (SMR) units, the hydrogen generation facility will generate 200,000Nm³/h of hydrogen and steam to produce sulfur-free fuels.
The other processing units at the refinery include the STRATCO® alkylation unit, the MECS® sulphuric acid regeneration (SAR) unit, the MECS® DynaWave® sulfur recovery unit, and the BELCO® EDV® fluid catalytic cracking unit. The refinery is designed to produce up to 50 million liters of gasoline and 15 million liters of diesel a day.
The refinery is expected to produce 10.4 million tonnes (Mt) of gasoline, 4.6 Mt of diesel, and 4 Mt of jet fuel a year. It will also produce 0.69Mt of polypropylene, 0.24Mt of propane, 32,000t of Sulphur, and 0.5Mt of carbon black feed yearly. Furthermore, the refinery will generate electricity of up to 12,000MegaWatts.
Financing
A group of local and international banks led by Standard Chartered Bank provided a US $3.3bn syndicated loan facility for the project. Furthermore, the United States Trade and Development Agency provided a US $0.997M training grant for the human resource development for the refinery operation.
Timeline
2013
Nigerian Businessman Aliko Dangote unveiled plans for the new refinery. He announced that he had secured about US $3.3bn financing for the project.
2016
Construction began with excavation and infrastructure preparation works. planned completion was scheduled for late 2018.
2017
Major structural construction began, and Aliko Dangote estimated that the refinery would be mechanically complete in late 2019 and commissioned in early 2020.
Jan 2018
Mammoet to provide heavy lifting and transport solutions for the new Dangote oil refinery in Nigeria
Mammoet, the global leader in engineered heavy lifting and transport, will be transporting, lifting, and installing all over-dimensional cargo for the refinery.
During a signing ceremony in Lagos on Tuesday, January 16, the Dangote Group of Companies and Mammoet signed the contract for this ambitious project. The new multi-billion-dollar refinery is being built by the Dangote Group of Companies in resource-rich Nigeria.
Aug 2019
Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery to welcome the world’s largest Atmospheric Tower
The world’s largest atmospheric tower has been built for Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery. The huge atmospheric tower was built by Sinopec, a frontline energy and chemical company in China.
According to Sinopec, it will be transported to Nigeria and be installed at the world’s biggest single-train facility, Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery.
Aug 2019
The completion date for Africa’s largest oil refinery shifted
The completion date for Dangote crude oil refinery- Africa’s largest oil refinery has been shifted to the end of 2020 due to problems importing steel and other equipment.
Group Executive Director, of Dangote Group, Mr. Devakumar Edwin announced the reports and said that the refining operation which was expected to begin at the facility in early 2020 has been shifted, implying that it may start by early 2021. Mr. Devakumar added that the firm could start using the refinery’s tank farms as a depot to warm up operations despite the delays at the congested Apapa and Tin Can Island ports.
“We will be able to complete the refinery project by the end of next year – mechanical completion. We are also in talks with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), two other international oil companies, and two large oil traders, who were all interested in supplying crude and buying products,” said Edwin.
In October, pilling works were completed. According to Group Executive Director (GED), Strategy, Capital Projects, and Portfolio Development for Dangote, Mr. Edwin Devakumar, the pilling work was 148,000 piles, making it a construction project with the largest number of piles in the world. He added that the civil works and underground works have been completed while the superstructure work and some of the building works are coming up.
Nov 2019
AFRICA’s largest oil refinery is built with 4 ELKON concrete plants by Dangote
In November, concrete machinery company Elkon announced that Dangote Group had purchased 4 units of ELKOMIX – 135 Stationary Concrete Batching Plant for the giant project.
ELKOMIX – 135 Stationary Batching Plant which is equipped with 4500/3000 l. Twin-shaft Mixer with its high-efficient mixing system provides up to 120-135 m3 of concrete per hour. The configuration has T type aggregate weighing system, T type aggregate weighing system provides faster aggregate weighing time with 2 separate aggregates weigh hoppers.
Jul 2020
Construction of Dangote oil refinery Africa’s largest nears completion
Dangote oil Refinery, which is expected to be Africa’s largest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility upon completion, is set to be operational early next year. This was reported by Devakumar Edwin who is the Dangote Industries Executive Director.
Mr. Edwin said that they had initially planned to complete the mechanical works, which would mean the completion of the entire project, by the end of this year and to commission the plant in January next year but there has been a shift of 2 months maximum which he says “it is still within the time frame of completion”.
“We have laid out plans to catch up with the delay period and we are trying to put it into action. If it works out well, we will still be able to maintain our original completion dates and if it doesn’t, the maximum delay period will be 2 months,” explained the Dangote Group Executive Director.
There is no gain saying that Nigeria and Nigerians are blessed to have Aliko Dangote.
Like the proverbial light in the room that cannot be hidden in the dark,he has endured,persisted and is surely being notice by the global business community thereby putting Nigeria on the map of viable economic development part way.
We are proud of you and your entire winning team.
Nigerians can’t wait to be part of the commissioning of this giangantic project with so much help it will bring in terms of human capital development and to address the long problems of refined motor spirit brought about by outdated refineries.
Long live Aliko Dangote,
Long live Dangote group,
Long live federal republic of Nigeria.
am really amazed with this plans and I pray its works .Nigeria we are blessed
May the Almighty God bless Dangote in good health and long life and prosperity. Well done for a good start. Nigeria will now see the back of all her enemies.
May this work in sha Allah
May dangote unconscious attempt for a better Nigeria be blessed …
Thanks for your persistence
God bless Nigeria
I really appreciate him for such a nice job.
Greater height to attain.
Is there vacancy in your company?