By Udeme Akpan
Nigeria’s petroleum industry is undergoing a shift from an export-driven crude oil model towards greater domestic processing following the operationalisation of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos.
For decades, Nigeria exported crude oil while importing refined petroleum products, including petrol, diesel and aviation fuel. The model generated foreign exchange from crude exports but also required the country to spend substantial foreign exchange on refined fuel imports.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is changing the structure of the downstream petroleum industry by processing crude oil locally into refined products including Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Jet A-1, alongside petrochemical products such as polypropylene and polyethylene.
The development provides additional stages of value addition within Nigeria’s petroleum industry, allowing crude oil produced in the country to be processed into products used by households, businesses and industries.
