Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery is set to receive the world’s largest atmospheric tower from China’s topmost energy and chemical company – Sinopec. It is expected to arrive in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria (which is the location of the refinery) within one month. The refinery is built on a land size of 6180 acres.
On July 29, the world's largest atmospheric tower built by Sinopec slowly left a wharf in Ningbo. Following the Maritime #SilkRoad, it will travel to #Nigeria and be installed at the world’s biggest single-train facility – Nigeria's Dangote Refinery. pic.twitter.com/8zBJesejn1
— Sinopec (@SinopecNews) July 29, 2019
This tower has been created for the purpose of processing crude oil for Dangote Refinery. This new development will hopefully change the status of Nigeria from a fuel importer to a net exporter.
Nigeria deals with the production of crude oil with low sulphur content, high value content and light crude oils- Bonny Medium, Brass Blend, Antan Blend, Escravos Light, Forcados Blend, amongst others.
Some of the interesting facts about the atmospheric tower is that it has the largest diameter-12m, longest length- 112.56m and heaviest single unit equipment- 2252 tons in domestic export equipment.
The production of fuel has been projected to take place in early 2020 as stated by the Chairman and CEO, Aliko Dangote. The refinery is expected to produce 650 thousand barrels per day (bpd).
He also added that his refinery will bring in an annual profit of 26.2 billion dollars at the maiden edition of the Lagos-Kano Economic and Investment Summit in 2018. But the expert analysts are of the opinion that it would take longer than that; probably up to 2023.
Aliko Dangote, owner of the Dangote Group of Companies, has been a major force in the commercial sector locally and globally. He was ranked the richest person in Africa (2019) and the 24th richest person in the world as at 2014.
The multi-trillion naira company has its base in Lagos, Nigeria and also operates in other countries such as; Ghana, Benin and Togo. The company deals with the production of several products such as sugar, flour, cement, pasta, amongst others.
CONCLUSION
Fluctuations have occurred in the production of crude oil recently. The production decreased from June 2014 to May 2019. This new development pushed forward by the Dangote Refinery is set to clear up any inconsistencies, reinstate the position of Nigeria and put the country back on the map in terms of crude oil production and job creation and Africa at large.