Nigeria: Dangote mega-refinery inaugurated with great fanfare in Lekki

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari prepares to cut a ribbon during the commissioning of the Dangote Petroleum refinery in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria on May 22, 2023. REUTERS - TEMILADE ADELAJA

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

It is a titanic project costing nearly $20 billion. In Nigeria, billionaire businessman Ali Dangote's giga-refinery was inaugurated on May 22, 2023 in Lekki, on the outskirts of Lagos, by the country's outgoing president, Muhammadu Buhari.

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With our correspondent in Lagos, Liza Fabbian,

This inauguration is in a way the farewell gift of President Buhari in Nigeria, a week before leaving power. The inauguration may have been brought forward so that he could put his name on this project.

However, the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, was not present. He was represented by his vice-president, Kashim Shettima. Other heads of State of the sub-region also made the trip: Macky Sall (Senegal) or Mohamed Bazoum (Niger), proof of the regional importance of this gigantic infrastructure.

In front of this audience of political figures and kings, Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa, promised to get Nigeria out of repeated gasoline shortages: "In the coming year, we will offer a refined quality product, and thus, we can eliminate our dependence, and put an end once and for all to the adulterated gasoline that has invaded our market.

Eventually, the Aliko Dangote refinery will produce 650,000 barrels of refined products: gasoline, diesel, kerosene. Enough to fully cover Nigeria's fuel needs and even export a surplus.

>> READ ALSO: Dangote Refinery: "There should be no more gasoline supply problem in Nigeria"

But many questions remain unanswered. In his speech, Aliko Dangote announced that production from his refinery would be on the market by August, but it is clear that it will not be running at full capacity immediately. However, there is urgency, since the largest crude producer on the African continent does not have any functional refinery.

To break this impasse, Nigeria's national oil company has chosen to acquire a 20% stake in the Dangote refinery and will supply it with crude oil. An agreement not necessarily balanced in the eyes of some analysts, but President Muhammadu Buhari welcomed this partnership in a difficult economic context: "Given the situation, our government has been forced to create an environment conducive to the private sector, for it to develop and fill the glaring lack of investment, not only in infrastructure, but also in all other sectors in tension.

Moreover, even if Dangote now promises to focus on the local market, some connoisseurs of the oil sector interviewed by RFI are worried that it will end up exporting a good part of its production.

The Dangote refinery is the largest African refinery, one of the largest in the world, it will obviously completely change the game not only in Nigeria but also in the whole region. And if all the production - which is obviously not the case - went to the Nigerian market, it could cover all Nigerian needs.

Jean-Pierre Favennec, oil consultant at the French Institute of Petroleum and New Energies

Mehdi Meddeb

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Read on on the same topics:

• Nigeria
• Muhammadu Buhari
• Energies
• Petroleum