A Professor of Energy with specialisation in Oil, Natural Gas, Electricity, and Energy Transitions at the University of Lagos, Dayo Ayoade, has faulted afro beat artiste, Seun Kuti, on his claim that Dangote Refinery is smaller than that of Sinclair Oil in the United States.
This came amidst rising concerns over difficulties the Lagos-based mega refinery is facing as it plans to start producing petrol.
It is locked in dispute with government regulators.
In a video published on Instagram, Seun had called out the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, saying the Federal Government spent $2bn to purchase a 20 per cent stake in Dangote Refinery, while the same amount was used to buy the entire Sinclair Refinery in America. He noted that both refineries have the same size.”
But, in an interview with ‘The Punch’, Ayoade said the cliam was false.
He said, “Do you know how much the Federal Government put into the refinery? They gave $2bn. I did a live stream the day they announced they had given Dangote $2bn for 20 per cent of that refinery. That same day, Sinclair Oil in America sold the same size of refinery with rail tracks, trains, and other things for $2bn. The same Dangote has the audacity to come outside and say the government is sabotaging him.”
the Dangote Refinery is the world’s biggest single-train facility which has 1,100 kilometres to handle 3bn Standard Cubic Foot of gas per day. The refinery, built by Aliko Dangote, was launched on May 22, 2023, but commenced operation on Friday, January 12, 2024, after taking delivery of six million barrels of crude oil.
Situated in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, the refinery has 4.78bn litres of storage capacity for refined petroleum products and is designed to produce up to 50m litres of gasoline and 15m litres of diesel a day. The refinery is a 650,000bpd integrated project.
However, the Sinclair Oil Company operates an 85,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Sinclair, Wyoming, and a 25,000bpd refinery in Casper, Wyoming. The two refineries (110,000 bdp) process crude from the Rocky Mountain region, while the Sinclair operation also runs Canadian crude.
