THE Dangote Refinery currently operating at 85 per cent capacity could begin operating at full capacity in 30 days.

The full operation will enhance its supply links to both local and international supply chains, while also influencing market pricing and control mechanism across the country.

The head of the Dangote oil refinery, Edwin Devakumar, hinted at this on Monday, February 10.

“We can go 100 per cent in 30 days,” Reuters quoted Devakumar to have said.

The 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery built by billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, is aimed to compete with European refiners.

However, since the commencement of operation in January 2024, the refinery has been unable to operate at full capacity and has been struggling to secure sufficient crude locally from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) despite a government-mediated crude-for-naira supply arrangement.

This led the Dangote refinery to turn to importing crude from the United States of America and other countries after it was unable to buy crude in the local naira currency.

The ICIR can report that the $20 billion refinery built in Lagos state, the commercial city of Nigeria, has been processing crude into products, including diesel, naphtha and jet fuel, and in September last year started processing petrol.

It has asked for 550,000 bpd of crude for January-June this year from oil producers in Nigeria according to the oil regulator, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC)

The NUPRC had also said it would block export permits for oil cargoes from producers who fail to meet their stipulated supply quota to local refineries, The ICIR reported.

The Dangote Oil Refinery is exploring new markets for its refined products.
Last week, the founder, Dangote, disclosed that the refinery was already exporting jet fuel to Saudi Arabia as part of its expansion plans.

“We are looking at all the markets right now,” Devakumar added.