‘Naira likely to trade below $1/N1,000 as Dangote Refinery crosses 650,000 bpd’ – Otedola

Femi Otedola, the chairman of First HoldCo, says he is optimistic that the naira will strengthen meaningfully and will trade below N1,000/$1 before year-end as domestic refining is fully underway.

On Wednesday, Dangote refinery said the plant is now working at full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The refinery said operation reached full capacity after the company fully restored and optimised its crude distillation unit (CDU) and motor spirit (MS) production block following a scheduled maintenance.

In a post on Thursday, Otedola said with domestic refining now firmly in place after decades of import dependence, pressure on the foreign exchange market is expected to ease significantly.

“I am optimistic that the naira will strengthen meaningfully, and trading below ₦1,000/$1 before year-end is increasingly within reach,” Otedola said.

He also congratulated Aliko Dangote, founder of the refinery, on the remarkable “achievement of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery reaching its full 650,000 barrels per day capacity”.

“More importantly, it is transformational for Nigeria and Africa. Supplying up to 75 million litres of PMS daily changes our energy narrative and conserving foreign exchange,” Otedola said.

Otedola added that Dangote is not stopping here, adding that he has embarked on an additional $12 billion expansion to increase refining capacity to 1.4 million bpd, alongside 2.4 million tons of polypropylene and 400,000 metric tons of linear alkyl benzene for detergent production.

“Work has already commenced in earnest,” Otedola said.

Otedola said “Nigeria is proud” of Dangote, who he described as his brother,

On January 29, the naira appreciated to N1,400.47 against a dollar at the official section of the FX market.

• culled from thecable.ng