Last week, company officials conceded that ongoing construction for the Dangote Refinery in Lekki, Nigeria, would delay the presumed start of refining operations until at least 2021. The plant was supposed to come online this year, after several postponements already.

Several factors have complicated work on the facility, most recently the tandem of COVID-19 and the related drop in oil prices. Company CEO Devakumar Edwin said the refinery would be ready for operations in late 2021, according to Bloomberg, although third-party analysts predicted a 2023 start.

The refinery was originally scheduled to be under construction by 2016 and at least partially online by 2018. Both targets were delayed, as Nigeria's mostly state-owned oil industry is frequently undercut by corruption and supply chains are disrupted or seized by militants.

The plant is spearheaded by businessman and Africa's richest person Aliko Dangote, who owns cement, salt and other processing plants in Africa. Once the refinery is opened, it may produce up to 650,000 barrels of refined oil per day, which would make it the largest in Africa and seventh largest in the world by output. It equates to roughly 13 million gallons of gasoline and 4.5 million gallons of diesel per day.

Nigeria is actually Africa's largest producer of crude oil, but lacks refineries after the government shuttered its facilities last January.