Page 17 - DMEA Week 23

DMEA PETROCHEMICALS DMEA

Dangote to inaugurate new $2bn urea unit

NIGERIA NIGERIAN industrial conglomerate Dangote due to come on stream in December 2020.
will shortly inaugurate a new $2bn granulated The Indorama plant exports around 70% of its
Nigeria has several urea urea fertiliser plant in Lagos, it said on June 10. production, while the rest is sold locally. Notore’s
plants and is developing The plant has a production capacity of 3mn production is mostly consumed domestically.
more. tonnes per year (tpy), and uses gas supplies from Dangote’s new facility is anticipated to pro-
Nigerian Gas Co. and Chevron Nigeria as its vide around 25% of its urea for the domestic
feedstock. market and the rest for overseas. Traders who
“The mechanical completion of the fertiliser spoke with ICIS expressed doubt that the plant
plant is over; the test phase is over; and now we would start operating on a commercial basis any
are in the commissioning phase,” Dangote’s exec- sooner than the end of the year.
utive director for strategy, portfolio development “Stability could only come by December-Jan-
and capital projects, Devakumar Edwin, told uary,” one trader said. “Initially, all new plants
local press. produce off-spec product and that takes time to
The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis will stabilise.”
not affect progress at the project, Edwin said, “Realistically, we expect completion of the
although the plant will not be ready to market first Dangota line by the end of 2020; it is unlikely
its first products until 90 days after its power tur- it will happen before,” another said. “Commer-
bines come online. The director did not say when cial output should be available in the second
this was expected. quarter of 2021 or possibly the first quarter.”
Nigeria already has two urea plants in opera- Another company, Brass Fertiliser and Pet-
tion – the 1.4mn tpy Indorama unit at Port Har- rochemical (BFPCL), plans to build a 1.3mn tpy
court and the 500,000 tpy Notore facility at the port urea faclity and 1.7mn tpy methanol plant in the
of Onne. A second 1.6mn tpy train at Indorama is state of Bayelsa. ™

REFINING

Nigeria issues licence to small-

scale refinery

NIGERIA NIGERIA’S petroleum ministry has awarded a Nigeria is heavily reliant on fuel imports, as its
licence to Nigeria Delta Exploration & Produc- main state-owned refineries are outdated and
Nigeria wants to tion (NDEP) to operate a small-sized oil-refining have fallen into disrepair, being capable of oper-
develop small-sized train in Ogbele, a town in the coastal Rivers State, ating at only a fraction of their nameplate capac-
refineries to curb fuel it said on June 8. ity. Most domestic fuel production comes from
imports. The licence is for a 5,000 barrel per day (bpd) illegal refineries in the Niger Delta region that
train that was announced as completed back in process crude stolen from oil company pipelines.
January. The train will produce dual-purpose However, the government is seeking to
kerosene, jet fuel, motor and marine diesel and develop more legitimate small-scale refineries
heavy fuel oil. The marine diesel is low-sulphur, to help curb fuel imports.
compliant with the latest pollution standards Construction is already nearing completion
set by the International Maritime Organisation on a third train at NDEP’s refinery that will boost
(IMO). the facility’s processing capacity to 11,000 bpd. It
NDEP secured a licence to operate a 1,000 will manufacture the same products as the sec-
bpd refining train at the site in 2012, which has ond train as well as gasoline, referred to in Nige-
since produced more than 140mn litres of diesel. ria as premier motor spirit.
The train uses oil from a marginal field operated “All mechanical erections in respect to Train
by NDEP as its feedstock. 3 are completed,” Fatona said. “Electrical and
“This is a phenomenal attainment,” NDEP’s instrumentation has another week or so to go to
managing director Layiwola Fatona said, com- total completion and full readiness. We are now
menting on the licence. “It has been a very long ready for pre-commission with the start of tech-
and traumatic journey. It was fraught with chal- nical checks.”
lenges, hard decisions and much human and A ceremony will be held to commission the
financial capital.” train once coronavirus (COVID-19) travel bans
Even though it is Africa’s biggest oil producer, are lifted. ™

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