New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) While the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the US-Israel war on Iran has disrupted supply chains of fuel-importing countries, it has also opened up new opportunities for countries like Nigeria to step up exports of petroleum product from its coastal refinery that has been built with Indian and Chinese assistance, according to a new report.

The Lagos-based refinery, owned by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is operating at full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day and supplying fuel across West, Central and East Africa, according to an article in Business Insider Africa news portal.

The article states that cargoes have reached markets from Senegal to Mozambique, with additional shipments extending into Europe, including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as parts of Asia.

“The refinery’s execution reflects a combination of Chinese industrial capacity and Indian engineering oversight, underpinning both delivery speed and project scale, compared with typically longer timelines associated with Western contractors,” the article points out.

More than eight Chinese firms have been involved in the project since inception, providing the industrial backbone that enabled large-scale delivery.

India’s role has centred on engineering management and project continuity. In January, Dangote Group renewed a $350 million contract with Engineers India Ltd (EIL) to support the expansion of the refinery and petrochemicals complex, the article observes.

EIL will serve as Project Management Consultant and Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management consultant, replicating its role in the initial phase commissioned in 2024. At peak construction, more than 30,000 Nigerians were employed on the project alongside 6,400 Indian and 3,250 Chinese workers, reflecting the scale and technical demands of the refinery.

About 11,000 trained Indian workers were engaged, drawing scrutiny from regional stakeholders, although the company maintained that the refinery’s complexity required global expertise, the article further states.

It highlights that between 2016 and 2018, the group sent Nigerian graduates to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited in Mumbai for training in refinery operations, maintenance and production, as part of efforts to build local technical capacity ahead of commissioning.The programme covered about 800 Nigerians, trained in batches of 50 over a 24-month period, providing exposure to large-scale refining systems in India, home to the Jamnagar Refinery, the world’s largest refining complex.

“Notably, Indian engineer Devakumar V. G. Edwin, who served as Vice President for Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries, played a key role in the refinery’s technical development and operational rollout,” the article states.

The article highlights that the refinery’s impact is beginning to show in trade flows with Nigeria becoming a net exporter of refined petroleum products in March for the first time, reversing decades of import dependence.

–IANS

sps/na