Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has stated that his refinery, located in Lagos State, has through its supply of diesel, reduced the proice of the commodity in the local market by at least 60 per cent.
Dangote stated this in an address to the Afro-Caribbean Trade & Investment Forum in Nassau, The Bahamas on Wednesday.
According to him, before the Dangote Refinery began operations, diesel was sold at around N1,700 per litre but the refinery slashed the price to about N1,000, a decrease of approximately 60 per cent.
He also noted that despite the exchange rate rising to about N1,500 per dollar, they had managed to keep the price of diesel below N1,200.
Dangote further pointed out that currently, Nigeria does not have a strategic reserve for petroleum products, a trend he noted, was dangerous for a country of over 200 million people.
He said the $20 billion refinery could serve as the strategic reserve for the country, disclosing that the refinery has a tankage capacity of more than 4.78 billion litres of petroleum products, with an additional 600 million capacity to be added in the nearest future.
Meanwhile, Dangote Refinery is planning to set up a terminal in the Caribbean to export petroleum products to countries in the North American region.
Dangote, said the company can easily supply petroleum products to the region within 18 to 20 days when this is done.
He stated that the company will sign a bilateral agreement with the region to construct the terminal for the exportation of its petroleum products.
