Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s oil minister, stated on Tuesday that the country plans to stop importing petroleum products before or around the third quarter of 2023.
By the end of December, according to Sylva, a renovated refinery in the oil-producing Niger Delta city of Port Harcourt would be able to produce 60,000 barrels per day of processed crude.
The minister added that he anticipates the opening of the new Dangote refinery during the first quarter of 2023.
“We expect to stop importing petroleum products in the third quarter of next year, if I were to give it a longer timeframe, but I believe that even before the third quarter of next year,” Sylva said.
Nigeria’s production of crude had improved to about 1.3 million barrels per day from under 1 million barrels previously, and the country hoped to meet its OPEC quota by May of next year, Sylva told reporters in Abuja.
Nigeria’s largest export is oil, but crude theft and pipeline vandalism have reduced oil and gas production, displacing the nation from its position as Africa’s leading producer.
Nigeria trades its crude for refined petroleum products, but it is currently spending $1.5 billion refurbishing the Port Harcourt refinery.
Nigeria intends to refine its own fuels in response to rising oil prices worldwide. It became dependent on imports as a result of past attempts to modernize its refineries failing.
