Segun Atanda/
The Federal Government (FG) has pledged incentive support for Dangote’s $18 billion refinery springing up at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.
The pledge was made today by Dr Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, during a facility tour of the refinery.
He said that the FG’s ‘adequate incentive support’ would fast track the refinery’s completion.
According to him, the FG would support it through policies that would liberalize the market.
He urged Dangote to speed up completion of the refinery to come on stream before 2019, to promote effective downstream sector.
Kachikwu charged the management of the company to involve tertiary institutions in its operations, to build capacity among students studying oil and gas related courses to have some experience on refinery operations.
The minister said in spite of the private sector’s intervention and investment in the oil and gas sector, government still had a lot of role to play in terms of setting the right policies for a robust and investment friendly atmosphere.
He said, ‘‘For the fact that the private sector is taking up some interventionist role, does not mean government will fold its hands.
“We will still have to continue to churn out policies that will help stimulate growth in the sector.
“For instance, we have to ensure that the right tariffs are set for those laying gas pipelines and other assets.”
Kachikwu commended Dangote for the project, while assuring of total support in promoting its success.
He added, ”This refinery is indeed a massive and gigantic project which needs to be supported by government and investors.
”Government will support to intensify policies that will promote and attract investors to the refinery.
“I will tell my colleagues all over the world about Dangote refinery and the investment capacity.”
Kachikwu commended the management for ways local communities were engaged and carried along.
He urged other companies to emulate the company.
The President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote said that the refinery would save the country over $7.5 billion annually through import substitution.
He added that the project would add value to the economy as all the projects would be creating about 4,000 direct and 145,000 indirect jobs.
He lauded the resolve of the minister for his efforts towards ensuring availability of petroleum products and championing a comprehensive overhaul of the energy sector in Nigeria.
He said that Dangote was committed to playing its part in the efforts of the minister and the Federal Government to comprehensively address the energy crisis in the country.
His words: ‘‘As you are aware, we are currently building the world’s largest single-line Refinery, Petrochemical Complex and the world’s second largest Urea Fertiliser plant.
”The refinery will have the capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, while the petrochemical plant will produce 780 KTPA Polypropylene, 500 KTPA of Polyethylene while the fertilizer project will produce 3.0 million metric tonnes per annum of Urea.”
Dangote said that the company would also build the largest sub-sea pipeline infrastructure in any country in the world, with a length of 1,100km, to handle three billion SCF of gas per day.
According to him, the firm would also construct a 570 MW power plant in the complex.
“Gas from its pipeline will augment the natural domestic gas supply with an additional 12, 000MW of power generation added to the grid from its gas system,” he said.