West African nations have started putting arrangements in place to enable them import petroleum products from Nigeria’s $12 billion Dangote refinery, barely two years ahead of its planned completion in 2019. Investigations by Vanguard showed that the nations which currently depend on the international market for supplies would be interested in importing commercial petroleum products from Nigeria because of proximity.

Some participants from Benin Republic and other nations who were in Lagos for the just concluded Oil Trading and Logistic Downstream Week who preferred not to be named because they were not permitted to speak disclosed in separate interviews that their nations looked forward to the 650,000 barrels per day refinery for supplies. Referring specifically to Ghana, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, the Deputy Minister of Energy said that it was interesting to know much about the $12 billion Dangote plant and the impact it would make in the region.