The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited tankers began lifting premium motor spirit (PMS) from Dangote’s giant refinery in Lekki, Lagos, on Tuesday, fueling feelings of Africa’s petrol renaissance.
The $20 billion refinery’s commencement offers a new and potentially more efficient supply route for Nigeria’s petrol needs.
According to Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group, the refinery has enough capacity to satisfy the petrol demand of not just Nigeria but the entire sub-Saharan region of Africa.
“The capacity that we have will not only meet up with the Nigerian demand, it will meet up with the demand of sub-Saharan Africa, at least,” he said while addressing the press on Tuesday at the inspection of the 650,000 barrels per day refinery.
He added, “As you know, there’s quite a lot of what you call round-tripping, where people now do documentation and the fuel does not come into Nigeria. So right now, as we have this refinery working, it will show the true consumption of Nigeria. We can track every single loaded truck and we will try as much as possible to track the loaded ships, trucks who can tell you where they are.”
Experts say the refinery will bring the much-needed relief to Nigerians currently experiencing excruciating petrol scarcity in towns and cities nationwide.
“Our PMS can be in filling stations within the next 48 hours, depending on NNPC,” Aliko Dangote said on Tuesday.
He assured Nigerians of high quality of petrol from his refinery, stating that the refinery will help to reduce problems associated with dirty fuel.
“We will offer good petrol while the engines of your vehicles will last longer. You will not be having an engine issue, which a lot of us were having. It won’t happen at all.”
He added, “The quality here will match that of anywhere in the world: US, America. We will make sure that nobody will beat us in terms of quality.”
