Dangote: We Built Our $20bn Refinery Without Single Incentive from FG

* Says Nigeria needs 1.5mbpd refining capacity to be self-sufficient in petroleum products 

 Peter Uzoho 

Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Industries Limited, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has declared that he built his 650,000 barrels per day refinery valued at $20 billion without receiving a single incentive from the Nigerian government.

Dangote stated this in Lagos Tuesday in a speech delivered on his behalf by the company’s Group Executive Director, Mr. Mansur Ahmed, at the inaugural edition of the Crude Oil Refiners Association (CORAN) Summit, with the theme: ‘Making Nigeria A Net Exporter of Petroleum Products.’

The $20 billion Dangote refinery sited at the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos is reputed to be the seventh largest refinery in the world, as well as the world’s largest single train refinery.

The refinery, envisioned to transform Nigeria from a petroleum products import-dependent country to a net exporter of refined products, has since January 2024 been producing white products including diesel, aviation fuel, Naphtha and recently, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol in Nigeria.

But addressing industry stakeholders at the CORAN Summit, Dangote restated that the refinery produces sufficient diesel and jet fuel to meet Nigeria’s demand. 

He said the company recently started the production of petrol, adding that the refinery will soon ramp up its production to meet Nigeria’s demand. 

He maintained that the refinery’s products are being exported to diverse markets including Europe, Brazil, the United Kingdom, United States, Singapore and South Korea among others.

He said to achieve the vision of the conveners of the summit, which is to make Nigeria a net petroleum products exporter and an energy sufficient country, the country will need to build up to 1.5 million bpd refining capacity, with support from the government and collaboration by industry stakeholders. 

Dangote said: “To grab this opportunity, we will need to build 1.5m barrels per day of refining capacity. This will not be an easy feat and strong government support will be required to achieve this. 

“We built the Dangote Refinery without a single incentive from the government. However, to achieve the vision of turning Nigeria into a refining hub, investors need to be incentivized.” 

To ensure sufficient feedstock availability for local refineries, he said Nigeria will need to stop mortgaging its crude oil.

According to him, “It is unfortunate that while countries like Norway are putting oil proceeds into a future fund, in Africa we are spending oil proceeds from the future. We will also need to prioritise the implementation of the domestic crude supply obligations. 

“We will need to expand our crude oil production capacity to support demand from new refining capacity.”

The government of President Bola Tinubu is taking active steps to achieve this through fast-tracking IOC divestments and other initiatives. 

Dangote expressed optimism that Nigeria and Africa can become completely self-sufficient and can keep all the value on their shores. 

Having achieved self-sufficiency in cement, he said the country can certainly replicate that in petroleum products.

To realize the vision of improving Nigeria’s refining capacity and increase values from the nation’s oil resources, Dangote called for full implementation of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation (DCSO) as enshrined in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021. 

“We will also need to prioritize implementation of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation rightly. We will need to expand crude production capacity to support demand from the new refining capacity. 

“The government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is taking steps to achieve this through fast-tacking the IOC divestment and other initiatives,” he added                                                                         

Dangote warmed that global developments in the petroleum sector particularly in Europe will disrupt historical trade flows for refined petroleum products in Africa. 

However, he said Nigeria is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this opportunity and be a formidable player in the global oil industry.

He added: “As a vibrant exporter of refined products, Nigeria will witness an improvement in its balance of trade and generate the much needed foreign currency. Nigeria’s potential as a refining hub is clearly not in doubt, let’s work together to make it happen.”