Dangote Refinery: Africa’s Biggest Refinery Takes Shape
The completion of Dangote Refinery in 2019 will mark another milestone in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as the $11 billion refinery hold the prospect of stopping of refined petroleum products by Nigeria.
The Dangote Refinery will produce 650,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products to meet all the country’s refined petroleum products needs as well as export to other countries.
Nigeria spent N2.59 trillion to import refined petroleum products in 2016, according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics. founder of Dangote Group of Companies and the richest man in Africa.
Dangote, the promoter, said that the refinery projects were primarily meant to diversify the resource base of Nigeria.
“This is the biggest industrial site anywhere in the world from the fertiliser, petrochemical and refinery plants. The Dangote Refinery will produce 650,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products to meet all the country’s refined petroleum products needs as well as export to other countries.
The refinery is being built by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, founder of Dangote Group of Companies and the richest man in Africa.
“Our refinery will be 1.5 times the capacity of all the existing four refineries in the country even if they are working at 100 per cent capacity.
“This is the single largest refinery in the world. The petrochemical that we have is 13 times bigger than the Eleme Petrochemical built by government,” Dangote said.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo described the project as an incredible industrial undertaking, the largest and most ambitious on the continent.
The Dangote Refinery is an integrated petro chemical complex. Apart from refining crude oil to petroleum products, it will also have petrochemical and fertiliser plants.
Mansur Ahmed, an Executive Director in Dangote Group, said that the petrochemical plant would process 1.3 million metric tonnes per annum of petrochemical products.
The fertiliser plant will produce 2.8 million metric tonnes of assorted fertiliser, while the gas plant will produce three million cubic metres of gas per annum.
The refinery will also have the largest sub-sea pipeline infrastructure in the world with capacity to handle three billion cubic metres of oil annually.
The project is located in Lekki Free Trade Zone on a vast land mass of 2,200 hectares, an area eight times bigger than the entire Victoria Island in Lagos.
According to Mansur, the first phase of the plant will be ready by the end of 2017, the second phase by the end of 2018, while the third and the commencement of the refinery will be in 2019.
It is regrettable that Nigeria with large crude oil reserves and being the largest crude oil producer and exporter in Africa and eighth in the world, still imports more than 80 per cent of its petroleum products needs.
The country often experienced fuel shortages due to the poor state of its refineries. All the three refineries, operated by NNPC, are producing far below their installed capacity.
The Port Harcourt Refinery has capacity to produce 10.500 million mt/y (metric tonnes per year) of refined products, but it is producing at less than 20 per cent of this capacity.
The Kaduna Refinery, built in 1980, has capacity to produce 5.5 million mt/y (110,000 b/d), while Warri Refinery, built in 1978, has capacity to produce 6.2 million mt/y (125,000b/d) of refined products.
It is, therefore, good news that Nigeria will now host one of the largest refineries in the world after the Jamnagar Refinery in Gujarat, India which is the, largest refinery in the world and produces 1,240,000 barrels per day.
The Dangote Refinery will be the biggest in Africa taking over from the South Africa’s Sapref Refinery producing 180,000 barrels per day and Cairo’s Mostorod Refinery with a capacity of 142,000 barrels per day.
Dangote has already provided $7 billion in equity out the $14 billion estimated total cost of the project.
Some Nigerian banks provided a syndicated loan of $3.3 billion for the project.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has also promised to assist the Dangote Group to access foreign exchange and funding for the project.
Dr Okey Oramah, its President, gave the assurance during a tour of the project with the bank’s board members in 2016.
Oramah said that the board members decided to visit Dangote group to assess the project for possible financial assistance.
He said that Dangote Group was making tremendous impact across the continent which included Tanzania, The Gambia, Zambia, Niger and other parts of Africa.
“We are supporting them in what they are doing in those countries, so we are equally supporting them in this ongoing project, so it is important for the Board of Directors of Afreximbank to pay a courtesy visit to the site.
“It is important to come and see firsthand the project that is ongoing because we are also planning to support them to ensure the project is delivered on scheduled.
“We are looking at providing all necessary support both financial and otherwise to ensure that the project is completed within the time frame.
“We are also looking at providing support widow for Dangote group that will be used to fund its projects to completion.
“The impacts of the projects are not going to be felt in Nigeria alone but across Africa, especially West African. So for us it’s a strategic partnership we are building.
“If we help them to impact lives across the continent, they will equally help in delivering on our mandate to meet the objective of Afreximbank,” Oramah said.
Some other private investors are still visiting the project site to evaluate the facilities with the prospect of investing in the project.
The likely benefits of the Dangote Refinery to Nigeria are diverse.
Dangote said that the project would save the country about $7.5 billion annually in foreign exchange being used to import petroleum products and also generate $5 billion foreign exchange earnings annually.
The plant, according to him, will generate over 100,000 employment opportunities and revive over 11,000 filling stations that had been shut due to shortage of products.
Dangote said that the refinery would crash the price of petrol products in Nigeria as the products would be refined locally and save some costs incurred in importation.
He urged the Federal Government to sincerely pursue the diversification programme, stressing that projects like the refinery were needed to wean Nigeria from heavy reliance on crude oil export.
According to him, the best way to diversify the economy is through agriculture and “our fertiliser plant is in line with that goal”.
“By the time we finish our gas pipeline, it can generate about 12,000 mw and we can export gas to other African countries.
“We would have the capacity to store four billion litres of products and can load 2,680 trucks per day”.
Dangote said the target was that in five years time, half of Nigeria’s crude oil production would be refined and exported rather than exporting crude that were creating jobs elsewhere.
The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, said the project would create some 235,000 jobs both directly and indirectly.
He said the project would boost the economy of Lagos and entire Nigeria through its multiplier effects.
Mr Chinedu Okoronkwo, the National President of Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN), described Dangote Refinery as a welcome development.
He said that the refinery would ease operations of marketers and help to reduce their costs, stressing that the association had long been calling for total deregulation of the sector.
Okoronkwo said that the new refinery would also boost Industrialisation in the country.
Mr Abiodun Adesanya, the President of Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, said the refinery would eliminate problems associated with fuel importation, create competition and generate employment opportunities.
He said that the success of Dangote Refinery was an indication that the Nigerian private sector could make commercial success of refineries.
Source: Vanguard
We Must Borrow More To Deliver Infrastructure —Adeosun
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| Adeosun |
Adeosun spoke at a press conference marking the conclusion of the 2017 World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings in Washington DC, United States.
She said, “Nigeria’s debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio is one of the lowest actually. It is about 19 per cent. Most advanced countries have over 100 per cent. I am not saying we want to move to 100 per cent. But I’m saying we need to tolerate a little bit more debt in the short term to deliver roads, rail, and power.
“That, in itself, will generate economic activities and jobs, which will then generate revenue which will be used to pay back (the loans). It is a strategic decision that as a country we have to make.”
She added, “What I will assure you is that this government is very prudent around debt. We don’t borrow recklessly. We have no intention of bequeathing unserviceable debts to Nigerians. What we are simply trying to do is to ensure that we create enough headroom to invest in the capital projects that the country desperately needs.
“I don’t think any Nigerian will argue with us that we don’t need to invest in power. There is no Nigerian who will argue that we don’t need to do the roads. There is no Nigerian who is honest who will tell us that we don’t have 17 million units housing deficit. So, our vision for Nigeria is not for us to continue hobbling as a poor nation. That is the message I took to the meetings yesterday. We are a middle-income country. By classification, Nigeria, Angola and South Africa are middle-income countries. So, we have to benchmark ourselves against those who wish to join and to do that, we have to fix our infrastructure. We will do it jointly and as efficiently as possible. But the key is revenue.”
However, the minister said that the Ministry of Finance had rejected loan requests by some state governments to ensure the country had good debt sustainability figure.
She also said the Federal Government had a strategic plan to reduce borrowing and this was why the government had embarked on various tax mobilisation initiatives including the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration, which she noted was gaining traction.
She also noted that plans were underway to get the National Assembly’s approval to refinance some of the naira debts into external borrowing.
On why the country had to borrow, Adeosun said, “If we think back at the problem that we faced, it will be very important to put this in context. Our principal source of revenue plummeted by up to 85 per cent. So, we had two choices: You either reduce public services massively, which would have meant massive job losses or you borrow in the short term until you can begin to generate revenue.
“As the All Progressives Congress (the ruling party), we felt laying off thousands of people was not the way to stimulate the economy. Also, when we came into office, about 27 state governments could not pay salaries. If we had allowed that situation to persist, we would have been in depression now.
“So, we took the view that as a government the best for us to do was to stimulate the demand and spend our way out of trouble. Let the state government pay salaries, make sure the Federal Government can pay salary and invest in capital projects to get people back to work. Once growth is restored, you can now begin to systematically reduce short dependence on borrowing and increase revenue.”
Source: The Punch
Osinbajo Admits Approving N640 Billion Oil Contracts For NNPC
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| Prof. Yemi Osinbajo |
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has taken responsibility for granting authorisation to the NNPC for two oil contracts worth N640 billion.
A statement by presidential spokesperson, Laolu Akande, said Mr. Osinbajo approved the contracts in his capacity as acting president in July.
“In response to media inquiries on NNPC joint venture financing, VP Osinbajo, as Ag President approved recommendations after due diligence,” Mr. Akande said.
The admission comes a day after PREMIUM TIMES amplified a curious part of the NNPC response to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu’s allegations on Monday.
The NNPC had stated in the response that two presidential approvals were granted to the NNPC for contracts with Shell Nigeria and Chevron at the rate of $1 billion and $780 million respectively.
But when PREMIUM TIMES reached NNPC and the presidency for clarification on Tuesday, they could neither confirm not deny at the time.
Source: Premium Times
Dismiss reports on post-UTME cancellation – Minister
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| Adamu Adamu |
The Minister of
Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has urged higher institutions and the
general public to disregard social media reports that he has cancelled
Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination ( Post-UTME ).
A statement by the Federal Ministry of
Education on Wednesday in Abuja directed institutions to carry on with
the conduct of the Post-UTME.
The statement was signed by Mrs Priscilla Ihuoma, Director, Press and Public Relations.
Ihuoma said that the minister also
warned that institutions charging above the stipulated sum of N2000 for
the exercise would be sanctioned.
“The attention of the Minister of
Education has been drawn to a news report in the media claiming that the
minister had issued a directive to universities to cancel the Post-UTME
examinations already scheduled.
“The statement, according to the report, was issued by Mr. Ben Goong, Deputy Director of Press.
“The Ministry would like to assert
emphatically that the report is completely false and without foundation;
Minister therefore urges universities to go ahead with their Post-UTME
arrangements as earlier planned.
“Mr. Goong, who purportedly issued the statement, ceased to be a staff of the Ministry since November, 2016.
“The attention of the minister has also
been drawn to some of the institutions who are charging more than the
stipulated N2, 000.’’
Ihuoma said that the minister viewed it
as an act of insubordination and emphatically redirected that every
institution that violated the directive would be made to face
disciplinary action.
She said that the minister directed such
institutions to refund to the students immediately as Joint Admissions
and Matriculation Board ( JAMB ) had been directed to compile list of
violators for appropriate sanctions.
“The ministry also urges the media to
always endeavour to crosscheck facts with the relevant officials of the
ministry before publication, particularly when such sensitive matters of
national importance are involved.”
Source: The Nation
Source: The Nation
Davido Arested Over Friend’s Death
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| Davido |
Investigations into the death of Tagbo Umeke, a friend of hip-pop artiste, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, took a different dimension yesterday, following his arrest upon discovery that his statement was laced with falsehood.
Davido reportedly told an investigative team at Lion Building division, Lagos Island, that he was not at Shisha Bar, from where the deceased was rushed and dumped at the Lagos Island General Hospital.
In his statement, Davido also said that he had left the bar for DNA Night Club on Victoria Island,
Lagos where he was informed about Umeke’s death.
However, while briefing journalists on the update of the investigation yesterday, the state Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, said that preliminary investigation showed that the late Umeke was rushed to the hospital on Davido’s instruction. Consequently, Davido was arrested yesterday.
A sober Davido was sighted in a white hood shirt on a pair of pants at the command’s headquarters yesterday in company with his lawyer. He was moved to Lion Building about 5p.m. where he was still being quizzed as at time of writing this report.
Edgal said: “About 9.20a.m. on October 3, 2017, the Chief Security Officer of Lagos Island General Hospital alerted the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Lion Building, that an unidentified male was brought in dead in an ash colour Toyota Camry car with number plate LSD 738 EL. The victim was alleged to have been brought in by two unidentified males.
“In my usual style of fact findings, I called for a meeting with the family of the deceased, Davido’s family, Davido, Caroline Danjuma, including the DPO Lion building and the investigative team. The meeting established that the deceased, Tagbo Umeke, met and had drinks with friends among who was Davido at Shisha Bar.
“The bar attendant confirmed that he (deceased) had 40 shots of Tequila and exhibited clear signs of drunkenness. The CCTV footage which I called for showed that the deceased was quarrelsome and violent in that meeting.”
The commissioner insisted that Davido confirmed that he left Shisha Bar without the deceased to DNA Night Club and that he was only informed of the victim’s death at DNA club.
But against that claim, investigations revealed that Davido’s white Toyota Hilux escort driver, Tunde Usutu, accompanied by Agbeje Olaoye and Idris Busari, both Davido’s friends, took the deceased to the General Hospital, Lagos and abandoned him in his vehicle on the instruction of Davido.
He also hinted that the CCTV footage at the hospital recorded the escort vehicle and all that transpired. The vehicle was recovered from Davido’s residence at 7, Awosika Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
The interim autopsy report stated that the victim died of Asphyxia which literally means suffocation.
“At the end of this fresh round of investigation, I will tell Lagosians our findings,” Edgal added.
Source: NewTelegraph
NNPC Scandal: Osinbajo Gave Approval For N640 Billion Contract
| Prof. Yemi Osinbajo |
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said on Wednesday that the presidential approvals it received for two oil contracts worth N640 billion were granted by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during his time as acting president.
The “Acting President Yemi Osinbajo gave the approval,” Ndu Ughamadu, spokesperson for the NNPC, said in a message to PREMIUM TIMES at noon Wednesday.
But for the ensuing 10 hours, Mr. Osinbajo’s office could not confirm or counter the NNPC’s claim despite repeated requests from PREMIUM TIMES.
The NNPC’s statement on Wednesday after that of Tuesday and the presidency’s handling of the controversy surrounding the operations of the state-oil firm further highlight the opaque nature of the running of the corporation.
Mr. Ughamadu’s declaration comes hours after PREMIUM TIMES highlighted a critical aspect of a Monday morning statement by the NNPC which suggested that the state-run oil giant had received presidential approvals for at least two contract awards during the time President Muhammadu Buhari was on medical leave in London.\
The NNPC listed the contracts as part of its response to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, who had earlier accused the head of NNPC of abuse of contract regulations and insubordination in a memo to Mr. Buhari.
In the August 30 memo, Mr. Kachikwu said Maikanti Baru awarded up to $25 billion in oil contracts under different guises without recourse to NNPC board or himself as its chairman. The memo sparked nationwide controversy followings its leakage on the Internet October 3.
The NNPC pushed back in a statement Monday, saying Mr. Kachikwu’s complaints were misplaced as the Mr. Baru only needed to get input and approval from President Buhari, who’s also the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources.
The agency also listed some contracts that received presidential approvals between September 2015 and July 2017.
The statement said NNPC received presidential approvals for two oil contracts on July 10 and July 31 worth $1 billion and $780 million, respectively.
The timeline indicated that the contracts were signed on dates Mr. Buhari was on medical leave in London and Mr. Osinbajo was acting as president in line with the Constitution.
PREMIUM TIMES then contacted the NNPC to clarify whether the approvals were granted by Mr. Buhari while on his sickbed in London, but the agency’s spokesperson declined to clarify, saying “presidential approval is presidential approval.”
When PREMIUM TIMES reminded him of potential legal implications of Mr. Buhari exercising presidential powers even when he had relinquished same in accordance with the constitution, Mr. Ughamadu dug his heels in.
“Presidential approval is presidential approval,” the spokesperson insisted.
President Buhari’s spokespersons, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, also declined to comment on their principal’s role in the contract saga when contacted on Tuesday.
But hours after the story was published, Mr. Ughamadu contacted PREMIUM TIMES to say that it was Mr. Osinbajo who gave the presidential approvals for the contracts.
Yet Laolu Akande, spokesperson for Mr. Osinbajo, could not corroborate the NNPC’s assertion for about 10 hours on Wednesday after he was contacted by PREMIUM TIMES.
In his memo to Mr. Buhari, Mr. Kachikwu stated that when Mr. Buhari was unwell in London for several months between May and August, Mr. Baru tried to get direct approval from Acting President Osinbajo for some personnel changes at the NNPC.
But Mr. Osinbajo asked Mr. Baru to go back to Mr. Kachikwu and get his input and approval first before making the changes. Mr. Baru refused to consult Mr. Kachikwu on that.
For weeks, the changes were not made, until Mr. Buhari returned on August 19. By August 29, Mr. Baru announced the changes.
This prompted Mr. Kachikwu’s letter to the president on August 30, complaining that he learnt of the development in the media.
Neither the vice president’s office nor Mr. Baru has denied that claim by Mr. Kachikwu.
Source: PremiumTimes
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