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The Dangote petro-chemical complex, which is under construction by Dangote Oil Refinery Limited and touted to be the base for the single largest refinery in Africa, has experienced completion delays, according to a report by Reuters on Thursday. Devakumar Edwin, Dangote Group's Executive Director, said the project would be completed by the end of 2020 due to difficulties in the procurement of steel and other equipment.

Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group and Africa’s richest man, said last year that he hoped building of the refinery would be finished in 2019 and production would start in early 2020. However, the completion time has been pushed back to the end of next year as a result of the challenges in supply of equipment.

“We will be able to complete the (refinery) project by the end of next year - mechanical completion,” said Edwin.

Edwin, who oversees the project, said, in the new timeline, production will commence within two months of completion of the refinery, which is capable of processing 650,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). Industry sources had said last year that it was unlikely for the refinery to start production until 2022, even after completing the building of the plant.

The $20 billion Lekki-based facility, upon completion, is expected to end the importation of petroleum products into Nigeria. Although the country has the second-largest proven oil reserves in Africa – more than 37 billion barrels – it imports refined petroleum products due to limited domestic refining capacity.

The new refinery will help Nigeria meet its growing demand for fuels and petrochemicals and also make Nigeria a net exporter to other countries in West Africa. The fertilizer plant at the facility would be able to produce 2.8 million metric tonnes per annum of urea and ammonia. The facility will also produce world-scale quantities of polypropylene, a primary component used in plastics and packaging.

The Dangote Oil Refinery is also the beneficiary of preferential foreign exchange allocations from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Dangote said he embarked on the project to help conserve Nigeria’s foreign exchange and diversify her oil-dependent economy.