By Abubakar Yunus
Aradel Holdings Plc says it plans to commence petrol production at its modular refinery in 2027, following the removal of subsidies that have made the fuel more profitable.
A modular refinery is a compact, skid-mounted oil processing plant designed for quick deployment and efficient crude oil refining.
In an interview published by Bloomberg on Thursday, Temitayo Ogunbanjo, who manages Aradel’s refinery arm, said the deregulation of the petroleum downstream market “has now created a path” to manufacture petrol.
The plant currently produces kerosene, diesel, gas oil and naphtha.
On Wednesday, Heineken Lokpobiri, minister of state for petroleum resources (oil), said Africa needs more refineries as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery is not enough to meet the continent’s needs.
“The Dangote Refinery is not enough. Despite the fact that the refinery is increasing its refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels. But it is not enough for the African continent,” Lokpobiri said.
“It’s the final capacity to open for middle buyers to be able to sell this entire African continent on top of the entire world.”
On July 20, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said modular refineries — including Walter Smith, Edo refinery, and Aradel refinery — continued operations, producing about 478,000 litres of diesel per day, with 562,000 litres supplied to the domestic market.
The data also showed that Dangote refinery produced an average of 39.1 million litres of petrol per day during the month.
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