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Nigerian Government Pledges to Support $12bn Dangote Refinery

The federal government has reiterated its support for the $12bn Dangote Refinery and petrochemical through feedstocks and off-takers of products to add value to the nation’s economy.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, made this known during a tour of the refinery project in Lagos yesterday.

Dangote Refinery is situated at Lekki Free Trade Zone in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos.

The minister was accompanied by the group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC, Mele Kyari, acting director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr Shakur Rufai, and all heads of NNPC subsidiaries.

Sylva said that Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical was a testament that the country possesses an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. He said that federal government would support Dangote in the areas of feedstocks and off-takers in terms of gas and crude oil.

The minister said that it was subject to the government’s discussion with Dangote on areas of support. “This is one of the most impressive projects I have ever seen in Nigeria done by Nigerians. It is a very encouraging development.

“For us as government, we have resolved to support this project,” he said.

Sylva added that the success of the project so far would boost investors’ confidence in the country’s oil and gas project. He also implored Nigerians to support the refinery project with a view to ensuring that it creates more value addition to the nation’s economy.

Also, NNPC GMD, Mr Mele Kyari, said: “We are not competing with Dangote, but complementing each other to boost production capacity. Our objective is the same, to make Nigeria a net exporter of crude. We can’t do this until we have complementary activities between the private sector and government.’’

In his remarks, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President, Dangote Group, said: “We believe in Nigeria, and if we don’t do it by ourselves, nobody will come down to do it for us.

Similarly, Mr Devakumar Edwin, the company’s group executive director, Strategy, Capital Projects and Portfolio Development, said the capacity of the refinery was comparable to 22 percent of the existing refineries in Nigeria.

Edwin said that the asset created market for 11 billion per annum of Nigerian crude and could meet 100 percent of the Nigerian requirement of all liquid products.

He said that Nigeria was Africa’s largest crude oil producer, but lacked refining capacity to meet its fuel needs.

“The Dangote refinery, which is designed to maximise petrol output, will produce enough to allow for a small surplus of that fuel for export.

“It will also be able to send a large volume of diesel and jet fuel to international markets.

“We are confident that we can meet 100 percent of the requirement of the country; so, the balance will go for export,” he said.

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Copyright 2019 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant source.

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