Nigeria's Refining Boom Faces Threat as Domestic Demand Surges
Nigeria's oil and gas industry is facing a crucial challenge as domestic refining demand surges towards 1.5 million barrels per day, threatening to stall the country's refining boom. Stakeholders, including billionaire investor Aliko Dangote and oil producers, have called on the federal government to scale up crude oil production, enforce transparent supply rules, and fix pricing and logistics bottlenecks.
Dangote, who was represented by Dr. Hassan Mahmud, stated that the group's total refining capacity will reach 2.1 million barrels per day across Africa with the upcoming 650,000bpd refinery in Lamu, Kenya. However, he warned that this ambition has exposed a fundamental supply gap, and Nigeria's crude supply alone cannot feed Dangote's refinery.
The stakeholders emphasized the need for expanding the exploration of upstream production to meet the demand for domestic refining. They also highlighted the importance of building a competitive downstream market, stable and predictable policy, shared logistics infrastructure, and an export-oriented vision.