Dangote’s OMLs 71, 72 To Begin Production July

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said he will begin oil production from two assets he bought from Royal Dutch Shell Plc in July.

This was disclosed by the executive director at Dangote Industries Ltd. Devakumar Edwin, during an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday.

According to Edwin, the group is   currently working with Chinese and Malaysian contractors and has completed a development plan for the Kalaekule field in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 72 in shallow offshore, Central Niger Delta Basin.

He added that work would be moved to an undeveloped KI discovery on Block 71, a small shallow water asset in southeastern Niger River delta.

“We are looking at the first phase of 20,000 barrels a day but our objective is to expand it to 100,000 barrels a day for the two blocks,” Edwin said.

“If everything goes well, we can do that in 12 to 15 months because we are already doing the 3D seismic studies.”

Edwin further said when productions begin in July, the group would pump around 20,000 barrels a day from OMLs 71 and 72 to the 650,000 barrels a day Dangote oil refinery currently undergoing construction in Lagos.

Recall that Dangote started ventured into the oil industry to help end Africa’s largest oil producer’s reliance on imported fuel.

Meanwhile, the plant is said to will reach mechanical completion in December and begin full operations by the middle of 2021.