L-R: Chief Operations Officer, Dangote Oil Refinery Company, Giuseppe Surace; Chairman, Execujet Services Limited, Sam Iwuajoku; Chairman, Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia; and President/Chief Executive, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, during the arrival of refinery equipment at the Dangote Jetty in Lekki, Lagos.

…begins equipment installation

The Dangote Oil Refining Company (DORC) Limited last week took delivery of one of the major components of its refinery equipment; the regenerator for the Residual Fluid Catalytic cracker.

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is one of the most important conversion processes used in petroleum refineries. It is widely used to convert the high-boiling, high-molecular weight hydrocarbon fractions of petroleum crude oils into more valuable gasoline, olefinic gases, and other products.

Sources said the company has commenced the installation of equipment for the 650,000 barrels-per-day crude oil refinery being built in the Lekki area of Lagos.

The refinery has continued to receive heavy equipment, through the Dangote jetty, located close to the refinery in the Lekki Free Trade Zone.

It would be recalled that the jetty, constructed by Dangote Oil Refinery received its first ship of 132 metres long, 9,755 tonnes general cargo ship, last year to deliver essential equipment for the ongoing construction.

The refinery is being designed to accommodate multiple grades of domestic and foreign crude and process these into high-quality gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuels that meet Euro V emissions specifications, plus polypropylene.

It will include a crude distillation unit, single-train residual fluid catalytic cracking unit, diesel hydro-treating unit, continuous catalyst regeneration unit, alkylation unit, and a polypropylene unit. The refinery will also be able to adjust its production of different products to match market demands.

Dangote Refinery distillation component

Dangote Refinery’s distillation componentThe Head of Quality Assurance/Quality Compliance and Construction, DORC, Mr. Rama Putta, said the sand filling of the site has been completed, adding that 60 per cent of the land was swampy.

“…The refinery equipment are coming in semi-finished shape and we will finish them off here at the sight. The remaining are being manufactured in various countries, including China, India, America, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.”

Executive Director, Dangote Group, Mr. Devakumar Edwin said the 650,000 barrel per day refinery would stimulate economic development in Nigeria. He said the refinery was designed to process a variety of light and medium grades of crude and produce extremely clean fuels that meet Euro V specification.

The Dangote boss said usually, the sulphur in petroleum fuels results in vehicle exhaust emissions that have negative impact on health and environment, adding that the Dangote plant has invested in most advanced technology to produce Euro V fuel due to help Nigeria meet the European Standard of gasoline.

He said the project would provide thousands of direct and indirect jobs and add value to the Nigeria’s economic development, noting that the refinery will lead to significant skills transfer and technology acquisition opportunities in the country.

Owned by the Dangote Group, the refinery is situated on a 6,180 acres (2,500 hectares) site and will process about 650,000 barrels of crude oil daily, transported via pipelines from oil fields in the Niger Delta, where natural gas will also be sourced to supply the fertilizer factory and be used in electrical generation for the refinery complex. The project is expected to cost up to $15 billion in total, with $10 billion invested in the refinery, $2.5 billion in the fertilizer factory, and $2.5 billion in pipeline infrastructure.