A mega-refinery built in Nigeria by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has started producing diesel and jet fuel, the company owned by Africa’s richest man announced on Saturday, AFP reported.

The plant “has started producing diesel and jet fuel”, the Dangote Group said.

It is an “important step” that has been taken and a “big day for Nigeria”, he added, hoping to deliver the first liters of fuel this month.

The group, which aims to use the refinery to meet the country’s fuel needs, has not said when the plant will reach full production capacity or when it will start producing gasoline.

With a maximum capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, built in a free zone near the new deep-water port of Lekki, east of Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos, the Dangote refinery, when fully operational, could help end Nigeria’s dependence on fuel imports.

It will produce diesel, aviation and automotive fuel, as well as liquefied petroleum gas.

Since 2021, commissioning has been postponed several times. Located on 2,635 hectares of land, the refinery cost about 19 billion dollars, local media reported.

At full capacity, it should have the largest crude oil refining capacity on the African continent. The project started in 2013.

The mega-refinery should allow the country of 215 million to end the frequent fuel shortages that plague daily life in Africa’s most populous country and improve the quality of the fuel it sells.

Despite being one of Africa’s largest producers of crude oil, Nigeria has so far imported almost all of its fuel due to breakdowns at its state-owned refineries.

Nigerians have also faced a sharp rise in fuel prices after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in power since May 2023, scrapped years of fuel subsidies and allowed the naira to float, leading to a sharp devaluation of the national currency.