Ongoing construction work at the refinery PHOTO: ENO-ABASI SUNDAY
Presently, Nigeria is home to some of the world’s poorest performing refineries. That storyline may change in the next 12 months or thereabouts when the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the largest single-train refinery in the world opens its doors for business. Besides the impending narrative change, the country would also be home to the best and biggest refinery equipment ever built-in global refining history, become a petroleum refining hub in Africa, while the refinery will meet the country’s gasoline requirements with a bit of surplus to export. For decades before work commenced on the 650,000 barrels a day (bd) refinery project, some of the most advanced refineries and petrochemical plants globally included the Reliance Industry’s Jamnagar Refinery in India; the Zhanjiang Refinery in China; the Yanbu Refinery and the Sadara Chemical Complex, both in Saudi Arabia.
But while Asia and the Middle East have been dominating the recent refinery project landscape, the massive refinery gathering steam at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, apart from making Nigeria refined products exporting country, is also expected to attract more foreign investors to the country.
Recently, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, while affirming the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s capacity to boost foreign direct investment, said the completion would be a symbol of the Nigerian success story. Sylva while on a tour of the project site said it was necessary to support it to ensure successful completion, a crucial step that would aid Federal Government’s aspiration of reversing the ugly trend of fuel importation.He said: “This is a very heart-warming moment for all of us as Nigerians. There is no way a project of this magnitude will be going on and the government will not be interested. Anywhere in the world, if a citizen of a country has committed so much money into investing in this kind of massive project, the government must show interest.
“I must say now that Dangote Group has turned this project to the story of all of us; we must all support this project to succeed because the success of this project signals a lot. Of course, I am sure that the whole world is looking at the success of this project. Investors all over the world will look at the success of this project and will come to Nigeria to at least also enjoy the benefit of investing here.
So, we are here to assure you, Dangote Group, that as a government, as NNPC, we will support this project as much as we can. You have done very well,” the former Bayelsa State governor stated. He noted that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical complex was a testament that the country possesses an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, and added that the success of the project would boost investor confidence in the country’s oil and gas projects.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery is exploring new technology in its choices for the biggest and best equipment in the history of global crude refining, just as the firm’s appetite for the best refinery equipment was showcased recently with the importation of the world’s largest Crude Oil Distillation Column, specially constructed for the refinery. Due to its size, while loading the equipment on the vessel from China, it first had to be transported from the fabrication unit on a barge to a river port, where a special RoRo vessel was hired.
The equipment had to be transported using Self-propelled Modular Transport, while the vessel was also moored in a unique method called the Mediterranean moor, wherein the equipment was rolled in straight from the aft of the vessel.With the latest development, the refinery project is in the process of upstaging other recent high-profile hydrocarbon processing plants previously commissioned in more developed climes.
Earlier this year, the company installed the biggest Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) ever known in the global refining sector; an attestation of its desire to ensure that Nigeria becomes a petroleum refining hub in Africa. Designed in such a way that no expense is spared in implementing the latest processing, analytical, automation, and environmental technologies at the new single-stream facility, the refinery is also designed to accommodate multiple grades of domestic and foreign crude (including shale oil) and process these into high-quality gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuels that meet Euro V emissions specifications, plus polypropylene.
No comments :
Post a Comment