Nigerians should thank Dangote for inspiring refinery, says NNPC chief

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari, has said Nigerians should be grateful for the leadership and inspiration of billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, describing the Dangote Petroleum Refinery as a symbol of technological audacity and national pride.

Ojulari spoke on Saturday while addressing journalists during a landmark visit to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery alongside members of the NNPC board and executive management team.

The visit marked the first official tour of the refinery by the senior management of the state-owned energy company. The 650,000 barrels-per-day facility is regarded as Africa’s largest and most modern refinery, with NNPC holding a seven per cent equity stake.

Commending Dangote’s vision and commitment, Ojulari said the scale of the project reflects bold leadership that has positioned Nigeria prominently on the global energy map.

“Nigerians should be grateful for the leadership and the inspiration of Alhaji Dangote and the Dangote group for what my colleague called the audacity to embark on such a huge project,” he said.

The NNPC boss noted that while he had previously reviewed reports and watched videos of the refinery, seeing the facility firsthand offered a deeper appreciation of its sophistication.

“I have spent time, I’ve watched the videos of these facilities, I’ve watched all sorts of reports on the facilities, there’s nothing like being here physically to actually see things for yourself. What we are seeing here is what I’d call the front line of world class technology,” Ojulari stated.

Addressing concerns that had trailed the refinery’s “single train” configuration, a design sometimes viewed with caution due to operational risks, Ojulari said the plant’s advanced architecture and built-in redundancies ensure high availability.

“When you hear ‘single train’, the largest single train in the world, if you’re not familiar with the details, you’ll be very worried. And everybody was worried. I was also worried. But coming here and seeing the architecture of the plant and the redundancy that has been built into the plant, what you see is that the plant has been built in such a way that despite being single train, it has an incredibly high availability. So, the perception of the old designs, the old designs do not enjoy the level of technology that you see here.

“Why is this possible? Now, it’s clear to me that it’s possible because it is taking advantage of the best of technology, both digital technology, AI technology, as far as advanced electronics and mechanical systems as well. So it’s an impressive facility.”

Ojulari also expressed pride in the refinery’s performance, revealing that it had exceeded its projected capacity.

“It’s also important to say that I feel really proud as a Nigerian standing next to Alhaji because this plant has now been tested to its full capacity, above its full capacity.

“What we saw on the screen today, which excited me, is 661. This plant was supposed to be 650. None of us ever thought it would ever touch even 550. So, seeing it live and the parameters we are seeing are live parameters, they’re not parameters that have been reported or photographs that have been written anywhere. I think every Nigerian should be proud that such an edifice is actually in Nigeria,” he said.

He added that plans were underway to expand the facility through a replication model aimed at doubling its capacity while reducing capital and operational costs.

“The next thing that also excites me is that Alhaji is not stopping there, and we as NNPC, being a very proud shareholder, and I would say even prouder today than I was yesterday, is embarking on the expansion of these facilities. And what that means is what we call replication.

“Replication is when you design something which you already know you’ve made all the mistakes and then you just design one, build two, build three, build four.

“So, what Alhaji has briefed us today, which excites us, is that the expansion of the plant is in hand, which means that we will double the capacity of this plant by just replicating exactly what is on ground. And then leveraging all common facilities that you don’t have to rebuild again, which means that replication will be coming at a much lower CAPEX. Not only CAPEX, it also means that with the synergies of the operation, your unit operating cost becomes much lower, so you have a more efficient facility,” he added.(Punch)