Aliko Dangote has announced that petrol from his newly operational refinery will reach filling stations within the next 48 hours. The petrol will be produced from his $20 billion facility located in Lagos, which has a refining capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
Dangote made this announcement during a press briefing on Tuesday, marking the official commencement of petrol production at his refinery.
“Our PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) can be in filling stations within the next 48 hours depending on NNPCL,” said Dangote. He further explained that the distribution would start as soon as arrangements with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) are finalized. The final pricing and distribution of the product will be regulated under an agreement approved by the Federal Executive Council, headed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The refinery, which began operations in December of the previous year, initially faced regulatory hurdles but has since overcome them and is now working towards achieving its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. It has already started supplying diesel and aviation fuel to marketers across Nigeria and is now adding petrol to its output.
Dangote also emphasized the benefits of President Tinubu’s “Naira for crude” initiative, which aims to reduce the demand for foreign exchange by up to 40 percent. “I want to thank President Bola Tinubu for creating this idea of Naira for crude and Naira for the product. Doing that will give a lot of stability to the Naira and remove 40 per cent of the demand for dollars,” Dangote noted.
