Dangote Group has readjusted the take off date of its proposed oil refinery project for 2016 to 2018.
The Director of Petroleum Refining, Dangote Industries, Mr. George Nicolaides, sin an interview at the Platts African Refining Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, on Monday said that the plant located at Olokola Free Trade Zone, Ondo State, which will process 500,000 barrels of crude a day will commence operation sometimes in 2018.
In September of 2013, when the group agreed a loan of $3.3bn with 12 Nigerian and foreign lenders to build the refinery as well as a petrochemical and fertilizer complex costing a total of $9bn, it had noted that the facility was initially expected to be completed in 2016 and the capacity of the refinery was put at 400,000 barrels a day.
“The site is being cleared; the plant is being designed,” Nicolaides was quoted byBloomberg as saying, “We are close to the beginning of detailed engineering.”
“We have a very ambitious construction schedule,” Nicolaides said, adding that, “I’m not sure about the history of those dates.”
Dangote has named Engineers India Limited to do most of the detailed engineering work for the new plant. Construction contractors have yet to be appointed.
“Supplying the local market is the primary objective,” Nicolaides said, explaining that, “Naturally, we can move products to the region. The government is being very supportive, very enthusiastic about this project. We are not looking for or wanting any particular subsidies.”
The refinery, according to the President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, will generate over 10,000 direct jobs and end the importation of refined petroleum products into the country.