XCMG Construction Machinery will be working together with Dangote Industries Limited on the world’s largest oil refinery project to be located at Lekki Free Zone in Lagos, Nigeria.

Construction machinery manufacturer XCMG Construction Machinery has deployed a team of 81 engineers and technicians to work on the construction of the Dangote Refinery. The team will provide end-to-end, round-the-clock service to facilitate more than 2,500 units of construction machinery equipment.

Built with an investment of nearly $35.38 billion, the Dangote Refinery project covers an area of 250,000 hectares. Phases I and II of the project is expected to be completed by 2022. Once in full operation, the refinery will produce gasoline and other petrochemical products such as polyethylene and polypropylene.

“The refined oil output of the Dangote Refinery will be able to fulfill the gasoline demand in Nigeria sufficiently, even meeting West Africa’s demand for refined oil, freeing Nigeria from its dependence on oil imports,” said Jiansen Liu, vice president of XCMG and general manager of XCMG Import and Export Company.

Nigeria, the largest oil-producing country in Africa, currently has four operating oil refineries. However, due to equipment aging and poor maintenance, the plants are in a state of partial shutdowns with a combined daily output of less than 445,000 barrels, while the average daily consumption is approximately 40 million liters, 7 million liters less what is produced locally.

The XCMG team managed several challenges including the road conditions which required levelling with road rollers and graders and excavators to dig waterways for drainage every few days.

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