Yemisi Izuora
Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE (DPRP) has raised US$2.5 billion in private financing to help fund the major expansion of its 700,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Lekki refinery and petrochemical complex near Lagos.
The refinery is not only the largest refinery in Africa, but also the world’s largest single-train oil refinery.
According to Industrial Info Resources data, there are 17 projects making up the Lekki expansion worth more than US$7 billion in investment.
Dangote said that initial offer was vastly oversubscribed with the US$2.5 billion “believed to be Africa’s largest publicly disclosed primary equity private placement by value.”
The key investors included African Finance Corporation (AFC) and India Infra Buildco, an investment vehicle facilitated by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), alongside “a broad mix of institutional and individual investors.” The company said that the funding boost will support “DPRP’s ongoing expansion of the refinery and petrochemical complex, strengthen the Enterprise’s capital structure and provide additional financial flexibility for future growth initiatives.”
“This is a strategic step to deepen and further industrialise the Enterprise’s shareholder base, while raising capital to complement our internal cash flows and external funding, as DPRP advances its expansion agenda,” said Dangote’s founder and president, Aliko Dangote.
He added: “This further demonstrates our profound commitment to developing domestic refining and petrochemical capacity — reducing Africa’s reliance on imported refined products and strengthening the continent’s energy security.”
Dangote intends to increase the Lekki complex’s refining capacity by 750,000 bpd to more than 1.4 million bpd – which would make it the world’s largest single-site refinery. As well as boosting crude distillation capacity, the project will expand associated petrochemical operations, including boosting the complex’s polypropylene production by 900,000 tonnes/year (TPY) to 2.4 million TPY. It will also upgrade the complex’s fuel output to conform to Euro 6-quality standards while constructing an on-site gas-fired power plant to fully cater for the site’s power needs.
Commissioned in 2024, the US$20 billion refinery was designed to cater for all of Nigeria’s refined product demand, while exporting surplus volumes to global markets. It aims to process 100 per cent Nigerian crudes but can also handle a range of African, Middle Eastern and U.S. light tight oils.
While Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest crude producers, it has relied on imports of refined products to cover 70 per cent of its needs. Dangote has already had a major impact in reducing Nigeria’s dependence on outside sources.
In breaking news, the company has formally approached Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission to start the process for an initial public offering (IPO) – something Aliko Dangote spoke about last year. No date has been given, but it is expected to become Africa’s largest stock market listing.
According to Industrial Info Resources data, there is US$10.74 billion in Nigerian grassroot refinery capital spending out to 2030. There are 24 new plants in various stages of development expected online before 2031, which puts it far ahead of the second and third place nations, the U.S. and Iran, who have 11 each
The Group has enlisted India’s state-owned BHEL to provide multiple gas turbine generators for the planned expansion of subsidiary DPRP’s 650,000-b/d integrated refining complex in Lekki, Nigeria.
Dangote Group’s proposed two-phased expansion of subsidiary DPRP’s Lekki integrated complex aims to more than double the site’s existing 650,000-b/d crude processing capacity to 1.4 million b/d by yearend 2028.
Dangote Group’s Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE (DPRP) has let a contract to Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL), a state-owned enterprise of India, to supply and oversee installation of gas turbine generators at the operator’s 650,000 b/d integrated refining and petrochemicals complex in Lagos.
As part of the contract, BHEL will fabricate, deliver, and supervise on-site assembly and commissioning of eight gas turbine-generator packages at the refinery, the service provider said in late July.
BHEL said it will manufacture equipment due under the DPRP contract—its largest supply-and-supervision single order for gas turbine-generator packages ever—at its operations in Hyderabad, Telangana, and Bengaluru, Karnataka, both in southern India.