New Delhi, May 5 (IANS). The closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the US-Iran war has disrupted oil supply chains, and meanwhile, Nigeria has emerged as an exporter of petroleum products due to its offshore refinery, which has been built with the help of China and India. This information was given in a new report.
The Lagos-based refinery, owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, is operating at full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day and supplying fuel to West, Central and East Africa, according to an article by news portal Business Insider Africa.
The refinery’s products have reached markets from Senegal to Mozambique, and additional shipments are headed to Europe, including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as parts of Asia, the article said.
“The construction of the refinery reflects a combination of Chinese industrial capacity and Indian engineering expertise, underpinning both the speed of delivery and the scale of the project compared to the typically longer timelines associated with Western contractors,” the article said.
More than eight Chinese companies have been involved in the project since its inception, providing the industrial base that enabled the large-scale work to be completed.
India’s role has focused on engineering management and sustainability of the project. The article reported that in January, Dangote Group renewed a $350 million contract with Engineers India Limited (EIL) to support the expansion of the refinery and petrochemicals complex.
EIL will act as project management consultant and engineering, procurement and construction management consultant, similar to its role in the initial phase starting in 2024. At the peak of construction, the project employed over 30,000 Nigerian workers as well as 6,400 Indian and 3,250 Chinese workers, reflecting the refinery’s immense size and technical requirements.
The article further said that around 11,000 trained Indian workers were also employed, which was questioned by regional stakeholders, although the company said the complexity of the refinery required global expertise.
It said that between 2016 and 2018, the group sent Nigerian graduates to Mumbai-based Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited for training in refinery operations, maintenance and production, to build local technical capacity before the refinery becomes operational. The program involved about 800 Nigerian nationals, who were trained in batches of 50-50 over a period of 24 months. This training gave him exposure to large-scale refining systems in India, home to the Jamnagar Refinery, the world’s largest refining complex.
“In particular, Indian engineer Devkumar V.G. Edwin, who served as vice president of oil and gas at Dangote Industries, played a key role in the technical development and beginning of operations of the refinery,” the article said.
The article highlights that the impact of the refinery has begun to be reflected in trade flows, with Nigeria becoming a net exporter of refined petroleum products for the first time in March, reversing decades of import dependence.
–IANS
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