By Libby George
LAGOS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Africa's largest oil refinery will
deliver its fuels to Nigerian consumers via roads and sea ports
and will effectively replace all of Nigeria's fuel imports once
fully operational, a company executive said on Tuesday.
The 650,000 barrel per day Dangote oil refinery is under
construction in Lagos, the biggest city in the most
fuel-consuming nation in the region.
But congested ports and dilapidated roads led some to expect
that the company would build a pipeline or other method of
getting its fuel to consumers.
Dangote Group Executive Director Devakumar Edwin told an OTL
(Oil Trading and Logistics) Expo in Lagos that fuels would go
via "shuttle" boats to Nigerian cities Warri and Calabar, and
that other deliveries would go in trucks.
Dangote itself is fixing and expanding one of the current
roads to Lekki - an area adjacent to Lagos's financial and
business district - Edwin said, while the Lagos state government
will build another toll road to aid shipments.
"That's going to reduce a lot of congestion," Edwin said of
their plans.
He said the refinery would virtually eliminate fuel imports
from other regions, adding "those who are importing today...they
can buy from our refinery".
The company previously told Reuters that the refinery's
mechanical completion was delayed until 2020, though industry
sources told Reuters last year that fuel output was unlikely
before 2022.
The refinery is also constructing facilities that will allow
it to export its diesel, gasoline and other fuels to markets
including Europe and Latin America aboard vessels as large as
suezmax tankers.
It is also designed to be able to produce diesel that meets
European winter standards, and will be high quality enough to go
to any market.
"We can export the product all over the world. So there is
no need for us to (blindly) compete with the local production,"
Edwin said.