Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has dismissed growing speculation that he plans to acquire one of Nigeria’s ageing government refineries as part of efforts to expand his oil refining operations. Instead, the billionaire insists that others with deep pockets should “try their luck” reviving the country’s struggling facilities.
Dangote, who serves as Chairman and CEO of the Dangote Oil Refinery, revealed last week that he intends to boost his refinery’s processing capacity from 650,000 barrels per day to a massive 1.4 million barrels per day
Dangote Refinery To Expand From 650,000 To 1.4 Million BPD, Becoming The Largest In The World.
If achieved, the expansion would make the Dangote Refinery the largest in the world, surpassing the 1.36 million-barrel-per-day Jamnagar refinery in India.
Speaking about the plan, Dangote explained that his focus is on growing the existing facility in Lagos rather than buying any of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPC) outdated refineries.
“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 said at the time.
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His remarks sparked speculation that he might consider acquiring and rehabilitating one or two of the country’s moribund refineries, but he was quick to shut that down.
“Buying those refineries? Once we touch them, you will hear a lot of noise,” he said. “There are other people with a lot of money, maybe more cash than we have, who we believe should go and try their own luck, so that there won’t be talk about monopoly. There will be talk about other people having opportunities.
“And I think we have a group like DAPPMAN; they should go and buy some of the refineries. If they are not for sale, then they should actually go and put up their own refinery. So, I think it is far better for other people to go and buy, so we will not be the only ones supporting Mr President’s policy,” he added.
Dangote stressed that his company already has a clear roadmap for its expansion and sees no reason to take over any existing state-owned refinery, according to PUNCH “For us, we already have our own infrastructure, and we want to double our capacity rather than going somewhere else. We already designed it that way anyway. It is just that we said, ‘Fine, let us start. If the condition is conducive, we will go ahead and double our capacity.’ And that is what we are doing. We are actually more than doubling a bit. We are going to 1.4 million from 650,000,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria’s journey toward a $1 trillion economy will require more private participation in key sectors, including oil refining.
“So, I think there are thirty people that have this sort of idea of either working in partnership with the NNPC to revive those refineries
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Image Credit: Businesss Insider Africa
