OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — A piece of equipment that will process crude oil for the Dangote refinery sailed from China on its way to Nigeria on Monday, according to a tweet from the Chinese firm, Sinopec.
This is part of efforts to see the 65,000 barrels per day refinery meet its 2020 take off target.
Nigeria could be transformed from fuels importing nation to a net exporter once the refinery comes on stream.
“On July 29, the world’s largest atmospheric tower built by Sinopec slowly left a wharf in Ningbo,” the Sinopec tweet said. “Following the Maritime #SilkRoad, it will travel to #Nigeria and be installed at the world’s biggest single-train facility – Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery,” Sinopec said.
The atmospheric tower is the primary unit processing crude oil into fuels. It could take a month to reach Lagos where the refinery is strategically situated.
The $12-14 billion refinery would, according to the businessman and promoter of the project Aliko Dangote, be completed this year for production to start by early 2020.
