Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, plans to invest up to $8bn to build a Nigerian oil refinery with a capacity of around 400,000 barrels a day by late 2016, the tycoon told Reuters on Tuesday.
This will almost double Nigeria’s current refining capacity.
“This will really help not only Nigeria but sub-Saharan Africa. There has not been a new refinery for a long time in sub-Saharan Africa,” Dangote said in a telephone interview.
The country currently has the capacity to produce some 445,000 barrels per day among four refineries, but they operate well below that owing to decades of mismanagement and corruption in Africa’s leading energy producer.
Nigeria, the continent’s second-biggest economy, relies on subsidised imports for 80 per cent of its fuel needs.
A surge in domestic capacity would be welcomed by investors in Nigeria, but it would cut into profits made by European refiners and oil traders who would lose part of that lucrative market.
Dangote said the country’s ability to import fuel would soon be challenged.
“In five years, when our population is over 200 million, we won’t have the infrastructure to receive the amount of fuel we use. It has to be done,” he said.
Past efforts to build refineries have often been delayed or cancelled, but analysts have said Dangote should be able to build a profitable Nigerian refinery, owing to his past successes in industry and his strong government connections.
The Dangote Group’s cement manufacturing, basic food processing and other industries have helped lift his personal fortune to $16.1bn from $2.1bn in 2010, according to the latest Forbes estimate. Nigeria has two refineries in its main Port Harcourt oil hub, one in the Niger Delta town of Warri, and one in Kaduna in the North that serve 170 million people. Not one of them functions at full capacity.
Analysts have said previous attempts to get the refineries going have been held back by vested interests such as fuel importers profiting from the status quo. Dangote said this concerned him. “The people who were supposed to invest in refineries, who understand the market, are benefiting from there being no refineries because of the fuel import business,” he said. “Some … are going to try to … interfere.”
Nigeria’s government subsidises fuel imports to keep pump prices well below the market rate at a cost of billions of dollars a year. Fuel subsidies are the single biggest item on the country’s budget.
Dangote said making a new refinery run at a profit would work even if the government failed to scrap the subsidised fuel price that has deterred others from investing.
“We’ve done our numbers and the numbers are okay,” he said.
Posted: at 17-04-2013 09:14 AM (11 years ago) | Hero
gakintunde1 at 17-04-2013 11:33 AM (11 years ago) (m)
when I talk about this man people don't understand. very soon he will be on the top 20 rich list in the world... More strength from God... No force of the government will stop u IJN. Bill Gate donated almost half of his wealth to charity and the next year, he top the rich list again... u cant trade with God and fail... ride on Sir the spirit of the poor r backing u on this as long as its a genuine intention to create wealth for yourself and the public. God bless.
Posted: at 17-04-2013 11:33 AM (11 years ago) | Newbie
Successman at 17-04-2013 05:31 PM (11 years ago) (m)
Dangote has created more jobs more than the government of this nation. I wish other rich guys like mike Adenuga & others would follow his footsteps. Carry on Dangote. God is solidly behind U.
Posted: at 17-04-2013 05:31 PM (11 years ago) | Newbie
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