Page 15 - AfrOil Week 45

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

The Zawiya plant has a throughput capacity of 120,000 bpd (Image: ARC)
El Feel, another major field, has yet to come back by shortages of diesel and gasoline as a result of
on stream, however. the refinery’s downtime. Diesel is used in gener-
Both of Zawiya’s two 60,000 bpd processing ators to produce electricity in many areas, and as
trains are operational, according to NOC. a result, the supply disruptions have led to power
Eastern Libya has been gripped for months cuts. ™

Nigerian workers protest

at Dangote oil refinery

NIGERIA NIGERIAN workers demonstrated on Novem- policy brutality that culminated in the shoot-
ber 3 over pay issues outside the 650,000 barrel ing of peaceful protestors by military and police
per day (bpd) refinery Dangote is developing on October 20, according to Amnesty Interna-
near Lagos. The protests come at a time when tional. In some areas the protests have turned
Nigeria is in the grip of civil unrest, triggered by into rioting and looting.
outrage over civil and human rights abuses. Dangote is also building a granulated urea
Dangote said the protestors were not its fertiliser plant in Lekki that is due to start pro-
employees but were subcontractors in a dispute duction in late 2021. Its launch was expected
with their employers. “The situation is under earlier but was delayed as a result of the pan-
control, as we are mediating with the parties demic. The company explained that coronavirus
involved,” the Nigerian conglomerate said. (COVID-19) lockdowns in some countries sup-
Posts on Twitter showed several dozen peo- plying equipment for the project had affected its
ple gathered at the construction site, noting that progress. ™
they were “fighting for their rights.” They are
protesting over low wages and poor working
conditions, reports state. Police have been at the
scene.
Dangote refuted reports that a worker had
been shot and killed by police. Video footage
shared on social media showed a tense but
non-violent standoff between protesters and
police, but what appears to be gunshots can be
heard at one point.
The refinery is being erected at the Lekki free
trade zone some 70 km east of Lagos, Nigeria’s
commercial capital. Nigeria is counting on the
$10bn project, due on stream in two years, to
end its dependence on fuel imports and even
produce a surplus for export. Dangote said
this month that the refinery had reached 80%
completion.
Lagos has seen weeks of protests against The Dangote refinery is still under construction (Photo: NairaMetrics)

Week 45 11•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15