The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Reg­ulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has disclosed that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, upon which the hope of the nation rests for fuel sufficiency, is now 97 percent completed.

The agency has also com­mended the work done in the project.

The refinery, with 650,000 barrels per day installed capaci­ty, is expected to double the total output of Nigeria’s existing ail­ing refining infrastructure and meet 100 percent of the Nigerian requirement of all refined prod­ucts, will pump out fuel any mo­ment soon, the agency declared.

The NMDPRA made this disclosure in Abuja when repre­sentatives of the Dangote Petro­leum Refinery visited it in Abuja to present the work plan for the facility for 2022/2023 as the regu­latory agency for the sector.

The successful completion of Africa’s biggest petroleum refinery and the world’s largest single-train facility is expected to have a significant impact on Ni­geria’sforeignexchangethrough import substitution and substan­tial savings in earnings.

It is expected, that once there ­finery commences production, the pressure on the nation’s currency will reduce and signif­icantinflowof forex, is expected to come in through sales from the refinery.

On completion of the refin­ery, it is estimated that Nigeria will import zero petroleum oil products – down from approx­imately $50 billion current oil product imports per year.

“Today, representatives of the Dangote Refinery and Pet­rochemicals presented their 2022/2023 work plan to the au­thority which showed that the refinery project is estimated to be at 97 percent completion.

“Dangote Oil Refinery is a 650,000 barrels per day inte­grated refinery project under construction in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos. It is expect­ed to be Africa’s biggest oil re­finery and the world’s biggest single-train facility,” the NMD­PRA said during the visit.