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IIR: Nigeria's Dangote Refinery will run with reduced production until October.

IIR Energy, an industry watchdog, said that the Dangote oil refining plant in Nigeria, which is one of the largest refineries in the world, will operate its gasoline production unit with reduced output until October due to a series of problems in recent months.

The 650,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery, which opened last year, is currently running its 204,000 bpd gasoline-producing residual fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit at about 70% of capacity, IIR said.

IIR reported that the unit was closed from April 7 until May 11 due to damage to part of the unit, and again from May 15 through May 25 because of a mechanical problem.

IIR stated that the full rate of production is not expected until October, when the refinery has completed a 40-day turnaround for reactor and catalyst repairs.

Anthony Chiejina, a spokesperson for Dangote, said that the unit was not scheduled to be turned around in October. He did not specify when the refinery planned to finish maintenance or when the unit will be back in full operation.

IIR announced that the refinery's Continuous Catalytic Reformer will also be closed for seven days beginning June 2 in order to fix leaks.

In January 2024, the refinery built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dagote in Lagos began to process crude oil into products such as gasoil and naphtha, and started producing petrol in September.

The closure of smaller fuel plants in Europe, and elsewhere, is expected to have a major impact on the global fuel market.

Some downstream units, like the sulfuric acid-alkylation unit, have yet to begin commercial operations.

Chiejina, a Dangote representative, said the unit was scheduled to begin operations on May 31. This is earlier than IIR had expected a mid-June start.

As reported earlier, the Dangote Petrochemical Plant began producing 25 kilogram bags (55.12lb) of polypropylene for the local market back in March.

The industry monitor reported that the crude processing unit of the refinery has been operating at 80% since mid-March. Chiejina stated that the unit was running at 85%. (Reporting from Shariq Khan, New York; Isaac Anyaogu, Lagos; Editing done by Sonali and Susan Fenton.

(source: Reuters)