Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, says the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals will become the world’s largest refinery by 2028.
Dangote made the statement on Monday during the preliminary signing ceremony for the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of the refinery.
“Today marks a significant milestone for us as not just a company, but as Nigerians and also Africans,” Dangote said.
He said the 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery was already Africa’s largest and the world’s largest single-train refinery, adding that it would become the biggest in the world by 2028.
Dangote also spoke about the challenges involved in developing the project, saying the journey started more than 10 years ago with support from banks.
He said the banks backed the project even before they had seen the refinery site or a licence for the facility.
“Today also shows that nothing is impossible for us to achieve once we are focused and determined,” Dangote said.
“Our vision 2030 mantra at the Dangote Group is accelerating Africa’s industrialisation. We have learned the hard way, and we cannot industrialise if we do not have energy security.”
He said the group had therefore increased its focus on energy security in Nigeria while also expanding its industrial projects across Africa.
Dangote said the group had announced investments in countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia.
On the proposed IPO, Dangote said the shares would be available to everyone and not limited to a particular group 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, and I’m sure they will continue to be happy now, in future, and forever.”
David Bird, CEO of Dangote Refinery, said the facility supplies Nigeria while also focusing on markets across West Africa.
He said the refinery’s products had reached international markets and highlighted its role as a major supplier of jet fuel to Europe.
“There is no better time than right now to demonstrate the world class quality of our products because we are the largest jet fuel supplier into Europe,” Bird said.
Bird said the refinery had performed strongly in the past six months and helped reduce some of the impact of supply disruptions caused by conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
He added that the refinery could process different types of crude oil and supply several international markets.
According to Bird, the 700,000-barrel-per-day facility is Africa’s largest refinery and already ranks among the five or six largest refineries in the world.
He said the planned expansion had already been fully sponsored, engineered and procured, leaving construction as the main work still to be completed.