ABUJA — Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has announced that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is on course to become the world’s largest refinery by 2028 following a planned expansion of the facility.
Dangote made the disclosure on Monday at the preliminary signing ceremony for the proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the 700,000-barrels-per-day refinery.
The facility, located in Lagos, is currently Africa’s largest refinery and the world’s largest single-train refinery.
Dangote said the planned expansion would propel the facility to the top of the global refinery rankings within the next two years.
“As we gather today to witness the preliminary activities that will set in motion the initial public offering of the 700,000 barrels per day in the Dangote refinery and petrochemicals, the largest refinery in Africa, world’s largest single train, and soon to be the largest refinery by 2028 in the world history,” he said.
He described the IPO process as a major milestone for the Dangote Group, Nigeria and the African continent.
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‘Banks backed us without seeing licence’
Reflecting on the journey behind the refinery project, Dangote said its development began more than a decade ago with significant support from the group’s bankers.
According to him, the lenders demonstrated confidence in the project even before seeing the refinery site or its operating licence.
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“Today also shows that nothing is impossible for us to achieve once we are focused and determined,” Dangote said.
He said the experience had reinforced the importance of determination and long-term investment in achieving ambitious industrial projects.
Energy security key to Africa’s industrialisation
Dangote said the group’s Vision 2030 agenda was focused on accelerating industrialisation across Africa, stressing that reliable energy supply remained fundamental to achieving the objective.
“We have learned the hard way, and we cannot industrialise if we do not have the energy security,” he said.
He explained that the group had consequently made energy security in Nigeria a major component of its investment strategy while simultaneously expanding its industrialisation drive across the continent.
Dangote said the group had announced expansion plans in countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia.
He added that the group’s investments were encouraging other African entrepreneurs to participate more actively in the continent’s industrialisation.
Dangote opens proposed IPO to all investors
Speaking on the proposed share offering, Dangote said ownership of the refinery would not be restricted to a particular category of investors.
“There is no segregation on who can own the shares,” he said.
“We want every human being living on the continent to be part of this action.”
The proposed IPO is expected to provide investors with an opportunity to acquire an ownership stake in one of Africa’s largest industrial projects.
Refinery supplying Nigeria, West Africa and global markets
Also speaking at the ceremony, Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Refinery, David Bird, said the facility was operating as a merchant refinery supplying petroleum products to Nigeria and markets across West Africa.
Bird said the refinery had also expanded its international reach, describing it as the largest supplier of jet fuel to Europe.
According to him, the facility has performed strongly over the past six months and has helped cushion the effects of supply disruptions linked to conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
He said the refinery’s ability to process different grades of crude oil had enabled it to serve several international markets.
Bird noted that the 700,000-barrels-per-day facility was Africa’s largest refinery and ranked among the five or six largest refineries globally.
Expansion to make Dangote Refinery world’s largest
Bird disclosed that the planned expansion of the refinery had already been sponsored, engineered and procured, leaving construction as the major outstanding phase.
“This is now just a construction exercise that we believe we can deliver by 2028 to make the Dangote refinery the largest integrated refinery and petrochemical complex on the planet,” he said.
If completed as planned, the expansion would further strengthen Nigeria’s position in the global petroleum refining industry and potentially increase the country’s capacity to supply refined petroleum products to domestic and international markets.
The proposed IPO marks another major phase in the evolution of the Dangote Refinery, which has emerged as one of the most significant private-sector industrial projects in Africa.
