.says no more queues at filing stations
.targets 1.4m barrels per day, 12 million tonnes of fertilizer
Ahead of the 2025 Yuletide seasons, Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, has assured Nigerians of regular supply of premium motor spirit (PMS), insisting that his refinery can supply 50 million litres of fuel daily.
This is just as he plans to make his Dangote Petroleum Refinery the biggest in the world, with a production capacity of 1.4 million barrels per day. The refinery, he said, would overtake India-based Reliance Refinery with 1.2 million barrels per day capacity
Dangote, while briefing State House journalists after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Friday, said he was out to end Nigeria’s annual fuel crisis that had bedeviled the nation since 1972.
“If you look at it, in Nigeria, we have been having fuel queues since 1972 and we have actually removed those queues. It’s not about actually relying on imports”, he said.
Read also: Dangote pledges end to fuel queues, confirms 50 million litres daily supply
Dangote revealed that, “for the first time, we’re actually suppliers to Europe and US. Today, we have written to NMDPRA, the midstream regulator, and we have confirmed to him that we can supply 50 million every day. And you know that there won’t be queues at all, because I can tell you for nothing right now, even while we’re servicing the refineries, there are no queues, you know. So question of getting queues is history. It will never, ever happen by the grace of God, no more. That’s number one.”
He also assured that the company had ensured his supply chain covers the West African sub-region.
“Even our neighboring countries, they won’t have queues at all, you know, because they can buy from us, but official purchase. By February, we’ll be able to supply about 15 to 20 million liters more than the consumption of Nigeria.
“So we still have to export. So with that, that is fine, and people who are even like in plastic industries, will fully serve the domestic market, which they used to use about $350, to $400 million to import. We’ll take that one out.
“So, going forward, what do we really want to do? What we are going to do by 2028, we are going to take this refinery to the largest refinery in the world. We are going to heat Reliance.
“Reliance (Refinery) is 1.25 million barrels per day, we will be at 1.4 million barrels per day. We have already launched that we have signed, and we’re going to start piling for the refinery by January, before January ending, and it will be delivered on time”, he noted.
Read also: Dangote pledges 50 million litres daily petrol from today
Also speaking on fertilizer, he stated that his Fertilizer Company plans to supply to the entire African continent.
“We’re going to have urea production of about 12 million tons, which will put us at the largest, bigger than Russia and bigger than Qatar. So, we are doing quite a lot. So I think what you are doing, we are trying to also make sure that we are the gateway to investment in Nigeria and Africa.
“The reason why prices have to go down, we have to also compete with imports. But you know, luckily for us now. the smuggling has reduced, not totally. There are still quite a lot of smuggling, you know, because the price we have in Nigeria is about 55 percent with the price of our neighboring countries. So, it doesn’t matter how you police the borders, people will still smuggle because there’s so much money to be made. You know, they are selling at almost N1500/litre, N1600/litre but we’re selling at about 800 and something”, he added.
