Facility a national asset, must not fail, Kwankwaso tells FG
The Dangote oil refinery could bring to an end a decades-long gasoline trade from Europe to Africa worth $17 billion a year, heaping pressure on European refineries already at risk of closure from heightened competition, analysts and traders have told Reuters.
The refinery started production in January and cost $20 billion to build. It can refine up to 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) and will be the largest in Africa and Europe when it reaches full capacity later this year.
It has long been touted as the turning point for Nigeria’s quest for energy independence. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and top oil producer imports almost all its fuel due to lack of refining capacity.
About a third of Europe’s 1.33 million bpd average gasoline exports in 2023 went to West Africa, a bigger chunk than any other region, with the majority of those exports ending up in Nigeria, Kpler data shows.
“The loss of the West African market will be problematic for a small set of refineries that do not have the kit to upgrade their gasoline to European and U.S. specification,” FGE’s head of refined products, Eugene Lindell, said, referring to more stringent environmental standards for other markets.
As much as 300-400,000 bpd of refining capacity in Europe is at risk of closure because of rising global gasoline production, according to Kpler’s analyst, Andon Pavlov.
Pavlov said UK’s Grangemouth and Germany’s Wesseling refineries could close ahead of schedule as a result of looming gasoline oversupply later this year and consequent pressure on refining margins.
MEANWHILE, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 general elections, Rabiu Kwankwaso, in his reaction to the ongoing feud between Aliko Dangote and national oil regulators, urged the Federal Government to ensure the success of the refinery.
While describing the recent controversy surrounding the Dangote refinery’s integrity as an ”unnecessary fuss”, the ex-governor of Kano State said the President Bola Tinubu-led administration must exhibit fairness towards such a monumental project.
In a post via X on Wednesday, he wrote: “I was privileged to visit the magnificent Dangote Refinery, and I was marvelled by the sheer commitment that went into the quality of its establishment. This 650,000-bpd refinery is essential for our energy needs and economic stability, and it must be protected from all forms of threat.
“The creation of unnecessary fuss around its integrity by some vested interests is very unfortunate, and it stands to undo all the years of hard work to maintain the fragile investor confidence in our economy. It’s time for us to rally around this national asset to ensure that the monumental project does not fail. It cannot fail, and the Nigerian government must understand this by demonstrating fairness and confidence in both domestic and foreign critical investments.”
