The Dangote Petroleum Refinery, on Monday, received the fourth shipment of one million barrels of bonny light crude oil, supplied by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited.

A statement from tne $20bn firm stated that the oil company was expecting the fifth crude oil shipment soon.

The plant had earlier received three shipments of crude oil, as officials of the company told our correspondent that the refinery would start pumping out refined Automotive Gas Oil, also known as diesel, and aviation fuel or JetA1 this month.

In the statement issued on Monday, the company said, “The fresh one million barrels of crude was the fourth consignment to be delivered to the Dangote facility out of the six million barrels of crude being expected by the world’s largest single-train refinery.”

The Managing Director, Dangote Ports Operations, Akin Omole, had earlier told journalists at the Dangote Quay, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos that the refinery would receive about four million crude oil shipment before the end of 2023.

According to him, the refinery would get the remaining two by the early of January 2024, adding that this would position the refinery to begin production.

He explained that once the six million barrels were fully delivered, it would facilitate the initial run of the refinery and see to the production of diesel, aviation fuel, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, before progressing to the production of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol.

The 650,000 barrels per day capacity Dangote refinery can meet 100 per cent of Nigeria’s requirement of all refined petroleum products including petrol, diesel, kerosene and jet fuel, and also has a surplus of each of these products for export.

Dangote Refinery has a self-sufficient marine facility with the ability to handle the largest vessel globally available, from where it has been receiving the crude oil shipments.

After receiving the first consignment of crude, the President, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, had said, “We are delighted to have reached this significant milestone. This is an important achievement for our country as it demonstrates our ability to develop and deliver large capital projects.

“Our focus over the coming months is to ramp up the refinery to its full capacity. I look forward to the next significant milestone when we deliver the first batch of products to the Nigerian market.”