Dangote refinery has received its next one-million-barrel crude oil cargo from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO).
The oil firm received the shipment on Wednesday in a boost towards achieving Nigeria’s energy refining capacity and security.
It is understood that the latest shipment brings the total to three million barrels at the facility’s Single-Point Mooring and that the fourth shipment of crude is on the way.
The company, gearing up to commence operations at 350,000 bpd, is scheduled to start production of diesel and aviation fuel by Mid- January 2024 in which Premium Motor Spirit production is to follow.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has the capacity to meet 100% of Nigeria’s requirement of all refined products, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation jet, and also have a surplus of each of these products for export.
Earlier this month, the $20bn refinery received its first crude of 950,000-barrel cargo from Nigeria’s Agbami crude berthed at Dangote’s offshore crude receiving terminal in Lekki at about 7pm on December 7, marking the initiation of crude supplies for the refinery’s operations.
The tanker chartered by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), symbolised the initial crude supply to Dangote’s state-of-the-art refinery as it geared up to initiate production.
The NNPC, owning a 20% stake in the refinery, recently entered an agreement to supply 6 million barrels of crude oil as feedstock to the Dangote refinery in December, aiming to jumpstart operations.
The owner, Aliko Dangote, had earlier stated that the Dangote Refinery will fully come online with the refining of 650, 000 barrels per day by the end of 2024.
Dangote also said that the refinery would start with refining Nigerian crude, insisting that the refinery’s first priority is to supply petrol to Nigeria before exporting elsewhere, including the West African region.