Aliko Dangote, one of Africa’s foremost industrialists, has broken ground on the massive expansion of his 650,000 barrels per day refinery in Nigeria. Officially named the Dangote Refinery Expansion Project, the ground breaking began in the first days of June and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2028. The ten billion dollar undertaking will increase production by another 700,000 bpd, making the Dangote Petroleum Refinery the largest state of the art refinery in the world. Dangote’s current refinery is already producing 700,000 bpd, 50,000 more than its official capacity. Once completed, the complex will refine 1.4 million bpd. The same complex is already producing fertilizer and polyurethane in addition to Petrol, diesel, jet fuel, LPG, and naphtha.
Rather than contracting a foreign company to coordinate the engineering and procurement, as has been the case in much of Africa, the current undertaking is being carried out “in house” by the Dangote Group, with much of the civil engineering, site preparation, etc. being carried out by Nigerian companies. Nonetheless companies across four continents are involved.
