Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is set to become the first industrial facility to deploy Honeywell Technologies’ newly introduced artificial intelligence platform, with the technology projected to deliver more than $60 million in annual gross operational benefits when the refinery operates at full capacity.
The platform, known as Forge Plant Cognition, will combine Honeywell’s process engineering expertise with NVIDIA’s AI capabilities and Dell Technologies’ computing infrastructure to improve refining efficiency, increase output and strengthen operational reliability at the Lekki-based facility.
Honeywell Technologies announced that the Dangote Refinery, one of the world’s largest refining facilities, would host the platform’s global debut. The initiative is aimed at helping industries get more value from existing assets and improve the management of complex refining and petrochemical operations.
Preliminary assessments indicate that the technology could generate operational benefits of more than 29 cents per barrel processed. At full capacity, this could translate into over $60 million in gross annual benefits, according to Honeywell. The company, however, noted that the estimate was specific to the Dangote facility, based on preliminary data and subject to actual operating conditions.
The development marks another step in the refinery’s technological advancement as it moves beyond building and commissioning a major industrial complex to adopting advanced digital solutions to boost productivity, improve competitiveness and support its expansion plans.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, David Bird, said the decision to adopt the technology reflected the company’s commitment to operational excellence, innovation and the development of Nigerian engineering talent.
Unlike conventional industrial monitoring systems that mainly analyse operating data and offer recommendations, Forge Plant Cognition is designed to combine real-time plant information with engineering expertise, advanced calculations and physics-based models to identify operational challenges and support quicker, better-informed decisions.
The platform is expected to help engineers and operators detect potential equipment failures and process problems before they worsen, identify production bottlenecks and recommend measures to improve throughput, product yields and overall plant performance.
Honeywell said the technology would focus on three major areas: identifying opportunities to improve refining margins, reducing unplanned downtime to protect production, and making specialised engineering knowledge more accessible to plant personnel.
By bringing these capabilities together, the system is expected to help the refinery maximise the value of its existing equipment while improving the reliability and efficiency of interconnected operations.
The platform is also expected to make specialised process knowledge available to local engineers and operators through AI-powered tools, enabling them to tackle complex technical challenges more efficiently and build advanced industrial skills.
The initiative aligns with Dangote Refinery’s plan to develop a workforce made up of more than 70 per cent Nigerians, while gradually reducing its reliance on foreign technical expertise.
The President of Honeywell Technologies UOP, Rajesh Gattupalli, described the partnership with Dangote as an example of how artificial intelligence could transform operations in large-scale industrial facilities.
