Nigeria’s new Dangote refinery to start processing crude oil in 2022

Nigeria’s new Dangote refinery will start processing crude oil in 2022.

On Saturday, Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote and Akinwumi Adesina, the chief of the African Development Bank, both toured the Nigerian greenfield crude oil refinery.

Dangote announced the plant’s will begin operations by the third quarter of 2022. The plant which is located in Lagos is hoped to be a game-changer that will spur Africa's development and deepen regional integration. The production will have at first a processing capacity of 540 000 barrels a day and is expected to reach full capacity by the end of the year or early 2023.

By 2023, this output should enable Nigeria to break free from the import of petroleum oil products. A good news for the leading oil producer on the continent which has faced several oil shortages.

African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina has described the Dangote oil refinery and petrochemical plant projects as a “game-changing initiative” urging every African country to help the continent’s industrialization.

Aliko Dangote is Africa's richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In 2014, the African Development Bank’s board approved a $300 million loan to Dangote Industries Limited to support the construction and operation of the plant.