The President, Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, said the plant would start with a processing capacity of 540,000 barrels per day.
“Mechanical work on the refinery is complete and hopefully before the end of third quarter we should be in the market,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying in a briefing at the plant site in Lagos.
“Full production can start maybe, by the end of the year or beginning of 2023,” he said.
The facility, which will cost an estimated $19bn to build, has an installed capacity of 650,000bpd. Its output will be more than enough to meet Nigeria’s fuel demands and turn Africa’s largest crude producer into an exporter of refined crude.
Dangote, Africa’s richest man, addressed reporters along with Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, which previously provided $300m loan in support of the project.
The AfDB head and Dangote discussed possible collaboration to expand the billionaire’s businesses to more African countries to take advantage of the free trade area agreement, according to Adesina.
Dangote, originally a cement tycoon, is worth $20.4bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.