NIGERIAN billionaire Aliko Dangote said on Friday his  game-changing 650 000 barrel per day refinery is expected to be commissioned in the fourth quarter of this year, with smaller, modular facilities to follow soon after.

The $19 billion Dangote project is being developed by a privately owned Nigerian conglomerate of the same name, although state-owned NNPC holds a 20 percent equity stake and the government has been an enthusiastic backer.

Dangote will be Africa’s largest refinery by some margin, dwarfing existing facilities in Algeria and South Africa. And it is also “the world’s largest single-train facility”, according to Patrick Obah, director of planning, research and statistics at the government’s Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board. – hpemedianetwork.com