Nigeria to drive Africa new-build refining capacity growth, says report

A recent report on the global oil and gas refining capacity forecast has picked Nigeria as Africa’s lead capacity additions from New projects by 2024.

The report, “Global Refining Industry Outlook to 2024 – Capacity and Capital Expenditure Outlook with Details of All Operating and Planned Refineries,” was done by Globaldata, a leading data and analytics company based in the UK. 

It revealed that with planned and announced (new-build) projects roping up in the country, Nigeria would add 1.8 million barrels per day (mmbd) of crude oil refining capacity by 2024.

Of this, 1.1mmbd comes from the planned refineries, while the early-stage announced projects contribute the remaining 0.7mmbd by 2024.

Adithya Rekha, oil and gas analyst at GlobalData, was quoted in the report as saying: “Out of 64 upcoming refineries in Africa, a total of 43 planned and announced refineries are expected to start operations in Nigeria during the period 2020–2024. However, given the delays faced by new refineries in the country, including the Dangote refinery, it remains to be seen how many of these refineries start operations by 2024.”

GlobalData expects South Africa to be the second largest country in Africa in terms of planned and announced refining capacity additions. It is likely to add 445mbd of refining capacity by 2024. The Coega refinery accounts for most of the capacity additions in the country with 400 mbd. It is expected to start operations in 2022.

Egypt occupies third place in Africa with planned and announced refining capacity of 209mbd by 2024. The Soukhna refinery is the largest upcoming refinery in the country with an expected refining capacity of 155mbd. This planned refinery is likely to start operations in 2021.