ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has revealed plans to expand the Dangote Oil Refinery from its current 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, making it the largest refinery in the world.
Dangote disclosed this in an interview with S&P Global.
The refinery had earlier announced plans to increase production to 700,000 barrels per day by December 2025.
According to S&P Global, the Nigerian industrialist intends to double the refinery’s size with financial backing from Middle Eastern investors, positioning it to surpass all existing global refineries.
READ ALSO:FG Resolves Dangote–PENGASSAN Rift
The Dangote Refinery has already transformed Nigeria into a net exporter of diesel and jet fuel, while also supplying significant volumes of petrol that were previously imported from Europe.
Dangote described his goal of achieving African energy self-sufficiency as a “herculean task.”
“We have to build the refinery again, either here or somewhere else. But really, somewhere else is not possible because we’d have to go and spend so much building infrastructure, and we have the infrastructure already here,” Dangote was quoted as saying.
S&P Global Commodity Insights projected that Nigeria’s net gasoline imports could more than double between 2026 and 2027, reaching nearly 200,000 barrels per day by 2030 due to population growth and expanding economic activity.
“In July, Dangote unveiled plans to expand the refinery from its current 650,000 bpd to 700,000 bpd by the end of the year.
Now, the target is to reach 1.4 mbpd, with no specified date, a scale that would surpass the world’s largest 1.36 mbpd refinery in Jamnagar, India,” the report said.
Engineers at the Lekki complex confirmed that the site was designed for expansion, with available concrete plots large enough to accommodate another refining system.
One engineer explained that the upgrade could involve constructing a second refinery with similar configurations, possibly adding a vacuum distillation unit to increase light-end yields.
Dangote also revealed that the company is exploring new projects, including linear alkylbenzene and base oil production, and plans to expand its polypropylene capacity from one million metric tonnes to 1.5 million metric tonnes within the next few years.
Although the International Energy Agency forecasts a global refining overcapacity of 11.4 million barrels per day by 2030 mainly in China and India Dangote reportedly rejected the idea of Africa remaining dependent on imported fuel.
“Most African governments will not have the capacity to build a refinery,” Dangote said, calling smaller projects like Angola’s new Cabinda facility “a drop in the ocean.”
Platts reported that the company recently overcame a major financial obstacle after securing a critical $4bn funding deal in August.
Dangote is now considering strategic partnerships with Middle Eastern investors to support both the refinery expansion and a new petrochemicals venture in China.
“Our business concept is going to change. Now instead of being 100 per cent Dangote owned, we’ll have other partners,” he said.
He added that within the next year, the refining arm of the business will list between 5 and 10 per cent of its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
“We don’t want to keep more than 65-70 per cent,” Dangote said, noting that the shares would be released gradually, depending on investor demand and market conditions.
Dangote further stated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited could increase its stake after reducing its ownership to 7.2 per cent, but only after the refinery’s next growth phase begins.
“I want to demonstrate what this refinery can do, then we can sit down and talk,” he said.
Reports indicate that the plant’s main petrol engine the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) went offline in September following a three-week maintenance turnaround in August, sparking speculation about future downtime.
Devakumar Edwin, Dangote’s Vice President in charge of refinery operations, confirmed that the RFCC restarted around October 7 and was expected to reach full capacity soon.
“We have resolved most, not all, but most of the problems. And I think we’re looking for a window when we shut down for another month,” Dangote said, outlining upcoming maintenance plans.
The one-month shutdown will focus on the RFCC, while the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) and other secondary systems will remain operational.
According to Edwin, a full refinery turnaround is only required every five years.
Dangote said the next RFCC turnaround will be scheduled to avoid coinciding with the seasonal surge in fuel demand towards the end of the year, though he did not provide specific dates.