Nigeria's 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote refinery, could begin test runs this week after receiving its sixth shipment of crude oil, a senior company executive told the media.
He noted that the company's next step will be to launch a crude oil distillation unit, which is the main component of the refinery.
"Subsequently, we will be continuously buying crude and start commissioning the other departments," the executive said.
He added that the refinery received 1 million barrels of crude oil from the Agbami field in the Niger Delta, bringing the total crude oil received to 6 million barrels since the first cargo arrived in December.
The media, citing experts, said it could take months for the refineries to go from test runs to producing high-quality fuel at full capacity.
In early December, the plant's director, Aliko Dangote, announced that the first priority is to supply gasoline to Nigeria before exporting it to other countries.
The Dangote refinery is expected to initially produce 327,000 barrels of gasoline per day when fully operational, as well as 244,000 barrels of gasoil/diesel fuel, 56,000 barrels of jet fuel/kerosene and 290,000 metric tons of propane/CNG per year.
The refinery began operations in May after significant delays and cost overruns of $19 billion, exceeding the original estimate of $12-14 billion.