ALL Eyes On Alhaji ALIKO DANGOTE

• His New Game Plan Revealed!

Have you ever visited the Dangote Refinery located at Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos before? Have you seen the gagantuan and sprawling  industrial city built there by Alhaji Aliko Dangote sitted on over 2,645 hectares of prime land. If you haven’t, you need to visit the place to appreciate how big and massive it is.

It is 7 times the size of Victoria Island. It is several times bigger than the size of the entire Surulere area in Lagos. It is a big city on its own. It was a complete swamp that Aliko sand filled and turned into a vast industrial estate that has  been described as The 8th wonder of the world.

Recently, City People visited the huge complex which houses both the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals, plus his Dangote Fertilizer Company. The fertilizer arm of the business  is equally massive, just like the Refinery, all located at the Free Trade Zone. To drive round the entire Refinery complex alone will take you 4 hours of driving, non-stop. That is excluding the Fertilizer arm of the site.

The Dangote Refinery is located in the Free Trade Zone area of Ibeju Lekki, around the Amen Estate & Eleko Beach  area. It is a sight to behold. Approaching the complex from afar, all you would see are the Cranes and the heavy Steel structures of the Jetty, Quays, far away, but as you drive closer and approach the city, what you will see will blow your mind.

Only very few people will believe that all the massive structures you see before you was built by one man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. Like someone put it, the entire stretch of Dangote Refinery is bigger than Warri, Kaduna & Port Harcourt Refineries put together. That is how massive it is.

City People was conducted round the Complex, alongside other Media executives  by Aliko Dangote, the President/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, himself. He took us round, from one unit to the other, explaining the functions of the machines and equipments available at the complex. “We conceived Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals as an answer to the perennial shortage of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country,” he explained. “The successful  take off of this refinery marks the road to the attainment of self-sufficiency in domestic refining of petroleum products and provides excess capacity in refined products, which will now go for the export market”. The Refinery has been designed to maximise gasoline production, which will account for 53% of the production capacity, compared to most of the refineries in the world which produce between 20 to 25 percent gasoline. Aliko Dangote says the Dangote Refinery can meet 100% of the requirements of Nigeria, of all the liquid fuel products-Gasoline (PMS), Diesel (AGO), Kerosene (DPK) and Aviation Jet Fuel (JET A-1).

Not only that. The new petroleum refinery is coming with many benefits. The refined petroleum which it produces is the main source  of energy in Transport and powering of machines. And the byproducts are also the basic materials of many diverse products as plastics, pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilisers, pesticides and clothing.

According to Aliko, 60% of the production capacity of this petroleum refinery can meet the entire requirement  of Nigeria, while the remaining 40% is earmarked for Export. Exporting refined petroleum products will not only save the huge amounts in foreign exchange but will also trigger massive inflow of the same into  the domestic economy”, he added. Aliko revealed how his company surmounted numerous obstacles in its journey to build this refinery. “To bring Over Dimensional Cargoes close to the site, we had to develop a Port with 4 Quays, which has a Quay Loading bearing capacity of 25 tonnes per square meters.

“This was done to bridge the distance between Apapa Port and our project site. We also invested in 2,570 construction equipment, including 2,238 Civil construction equipment and 332 mechanical construction equipment.”

City People gathered that the  Petrochemical Plant is designed to produce 77 different high-performance grades of Polypropylene. Petrochemical is the source of raw materials for many manufacturing and assembling plants. Products from the plant will serve as raw materials for production of Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is used extensively across a broad range of industrial, technical and everyday applications, including widespread use in building, transport, packaging, electrical/electronic and healthcare applications.

Lets tell you more about the Dangote Petroluem Refinery & Petrochemicals plant in Ijebu-Lekki. Unknown to many, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals which is a subsidiary of  Dangote Industries Limited, is the world’s Largest single train petroleum refinery.

Also, the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude oil refinery with 838 KTPA Polypropylene Plant, covers an area of approximately  hectares and is located in the Dangote  Industries Free Zone, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.

Let us also tell you that the total storage apacity of 4.5 billion litres can cover -20 days crude requirement, and Product  storage for 15 days of Nigeria’s gasoline consumption

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is an industrial plant that transforms crude oil into various usable Petroluem products such as diesel, gasoline (petrol), jet fuel and kerosene.

The Refinery produces Euro-V quality gasoline and diesel, as well as jet fuel and polypropylene.

The Refinery is designed to process large variety of crudes including many of the African Crudes, some of the Middle Eastern Crudes and the US Light Tight Oil.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery can meet 100% of the Nigerian requirement of all liquid products (Gasoline, Diesel. Kerosene & Aviation Jet) and have surplus of each of these products for export.

The Refinery is designed to use the latest Technology to comply with stringent guidelines and regulations to protect the local environment, and at the same time produce the latest environmentally friendly petroleum products for worldwide markets.

The Refinery design conforms to World Bank, US EPA, EU and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) emission/effluent norms.

The Refinery has its own dedicated Steam and Power generation system with adequate standby units for reliable / uninterrupted utility supply to operating plants.

It has a 435MW power plant that can meet the total power requirement of Ibadan Distribution Company, covering five states, including Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and Ekiti.

Dangote is one of the few companies in the world executing a Petroleum Refinery and a Petrochemical complex directly as an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) Contractor.

The Petrochemical Plant is designed to produce 77 different high-performance grades of polypropylene. Petrochemical is the source of raw materials for many manufacturing and assembling plants.

It maximizes Gasoline which is in high demand-53% of the production capacity compared to 22% of the existing refineries in Nigeria

lt also maximises value addition-Extract maximum value from every barrel of crude

It also minimises low-value Fuel Oil

The Refinery is estimated to generate an annual market value of US $21 billion for Nigerian crude oil, Foreign exchange savmgs/earnings US $99 billion

56% of the production would be exported, with a foreign exchange gener anon of approx. $17 billion.

It will ensure over $25 billion addition to the GDP, through massive value addition within the country.

We gathered that the products from the plant will serve as raw materials for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is used extensively across a broad range of industrial technical and everyday applications including widespread use in building. transport, packaging, electrical/electronic and healthcare applications.

Dangote Industries had to develop a Port and constructed Quays with a load bearing capacity of 25 tonnes/sq metres to bring over Dimensional Cargoes close to the site directly to handle liquid cargoes

The Jetty is situated at a distance of 12.3 km  from the refinery thereby effectively reducing the travel time.

The Refinery has capabilities for both Land and Sea evacuation to serve both domestic and export markets

It has dedicated marine facilities for off take of crude and loading of petroleum products  It has the following: •Self sufficient marine facility with ability for freight optimisation. •Largest single order of 5 Single Point Mooring system (SPMs) anywhere in the world. •2 crude SPM for unloading ships up to ULCCs. •3 product SPM for product exports up to Suez Max vessels. • 2 X 48″ sub sea crude pipelines With interconnection. •3 X 24” subsea pipelines for products and Imports •120 km subsea pipeline. •Crude offloading capacity – 108,500 barrels/hour (17.25 million lits/hr). •Product loading capacity – 77,000 barrels/hour (12.32 million lits/hr),

From what we saw, Dangote Petroleum Refinery maintains high standards for all its business practices, valuing health, safety, environment and rights for its employees, compliance with all applicable local and international laws, and being a committed partner to host communities, governments and also environment friendly.