The Dangote Refinery in Lagos has been ranked as one of the largest refineries by refining capacity above 10 other refineries in Europe.
The $20 billion refinery which was officially inaugurated by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 first started production last year after it received the fifth crude oil shipment of one million barrels of Bonny Light supplied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC).
The crude oil supply according to the refinery management will kick-start the production of diesel, aviation fuel, and LPG before subsequently progressing to the production of Premium Motor Spirit.
The private refinery has a 650,000 barrels refining capacity but according to the analysts at WoodMac, FGE, and Citac, the refinery is currently running at about 300,000 barrels a day, which is about half its nameplate capacity.
Dangote Refinery is bigger than these 10 in Europe
According to Bloomberg, the 10 Europe-based refineries which come below the Dangote refinery include:
1. Pernis Refinery
Pernis refinery, the biggest refinery in Europe has been operational since 1902 with an installed capacity of 404,000bpd. It is located in South Holland, Netherlands and operated by Shell Nederland Raffinaderij BV.
2. The BP Rotterdam Refinery
Rotterdam II refinery is the largest oil industry in the Netherlands. It started operations in 1967 and has a refining capacity of 380,000.bpd. The refinery is operated by BP Plc.
3. GOI Energy ISAB Refinery
The refinery located in Italy, was built with a refining capacity of 360,000bpd but currently has a running capacity of 320,000bpd accounting for a fifth of Italy's refining capacity.
The facility comprises two refinery complexes, namely North Refinery which started operations in 1964. and the South refinery, earlier known as the Industry of Sicilian Asphalt and Bitumen (ISAB) refinery, which commenced operations in 1975.
The refinery, formerly owned by Lukoil, was sold to the GOI group last year.
4. Total Energies Antwerp refining facility
Commissioned in 1951, this is Europe’s third-largest refinery with a refining capacity of 338,000bpd. It also has a petrochemical plant and a facility that produces polymers, with a capacity of 1.1 million tons per year of ethylene.
5. Orlen Płock Refinery
The Płock refinery started operations in 1964 and is located in Płock. The refinery has a refining capacity of 276,000bpd of crude oil.
6. Rheinland Refinery
Owned by Shell, this refinery located in Wesseling, Germany is one of two facilities that make up the Shell Rheinland refinery complex. The facility churns out a total 340,000bpd
7. Miro Refinery
The Miro refinery is also located in Germany and has a refining capacity of 310,000bpd. The facility was built as two individual units in 1963 and merged to become MiRO in 1996.
8. Antwerp Refinery
The refinery is owned by ExxonMobil and has been operational since 1953 in the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam (ARA) hub near Antwerp port, Belgium. It has a refining capacity of 320,000bpd.
9. Saras Sarroch Refinery
The refinery is located in Italy and started operations in 1965. It has 300,000bpd capacity and contributes over 20% of Italy’s refining capacity.
10. ExxonMobil Fawley
The refinery, built in 1951, is now the largest oil refinery in the United Kingdom and one of the most complex refineries in Europe.
It has a capacity of 270,000bpd and constitutes 20% of the UK's refinery capacity.