Nigeria's Dangote refinery to run at reduced rates through October
The 650,000-bpd Dangote oil refinery in Nigeria is expected to operate its gasoline-making unit at reduced rates through October after a string of issues in recent months. The refinery, which opened last year, is currently running its 204,000 bpd gasoline-producing residual fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit at about 70% of capacity.
The unit was shut from April 7 to May 11 after part of it suffered damage, and was shut again from May 15 to May 25 due to a mechanical issue. It is not expected to hit full rates until the refinery completes a 40-day turnaround of the unit in October for catalyst replacement and reactor repairs,.
The refinery's continuous catalytic reformer is also set to be shut for seven days starting June 2 to repair leakages, IIR said.
The refinery, built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote in Lagos, began processing crude into products, including gasoil, naphtha and jet fuel, in January 2024 and started producing gasoline in September.
It is widely expected to reshape global fuel markets by forcing closures of smaller plants in Europe and elsewhere.
Some downstream units at the plant are yet to start commercial operations, such as a sulfuric acid alkylation unit, scheduled to start up in mid-June, and a polypropylene unit that is set to come online by the end of June. Meanwhile, the refinery's crude processing unit has been running at about 80% of its throughput since mid-March.
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