Billionaire businessman says refinery ownership will be opened to Nigerians as company targets $100bn revenue by 2030….
President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that the company turned down attempts by the NNPC Limited to acquire a larger stake in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery ahead of plans to list the facility on the stock market.
Speaking during an interview with Nicolai Tangen, Chief Executive Officer of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Dangote said the decision was deliberate, explaining that the company wants ordinary Nigerians and a broader range of investors to eventually own part of the refinery through a future Initial Public Offering (IPO).
According to him, the national oil company had sought to increase its existing ownership in the refinery, but the proposal was rejected.
“The national oil company already owns 7.25 per cent, and they are trying to buy more. We are the ones that said no because we want everybody to be part of it,” Dangote said during the interview monitored by Channels Television.
NNPC initially acquired a 7.25 per cent stake in the refinery for $1 billion in 2021, with an agreement that would have allowed it to increase ownership to 20 per cent. However, the deal was later scaled back after the company failed to complete payment for the remaining shares before the agreed deadline.
Dangote had previously disclosed in 2024 that many Nigerians wrongly believed NNPC owned 20 per cent of the refinery, clarifying that the actual figure remained just above seven per cent after the state oil company opted not to proceed with the balance of the investment.
The billionaire industrialist also identified policy instability and insecurity as some of the biggest threats facing large-scale industrial investments in Nigeria.
According to him, inconsistent government policies remain a major challenge for investors trying to execute long-term projects worth billions of dollars.
Despite those concerns, Dangote said the refinery has exceeded expectations since operations began, adding that international financial institutions are now more willing to support the group after seeing the scale and performance of the project.
The refinery, commissioned in May 2023, is designed to process 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day. However, Dangote revealed that the facility has already surpassed its official nameplate capacity and recently processed 661,000 barrels daily.
“The refinery has now been tested. We have demonstrated that we can deliver projects of this magnitude,” he said.
Dangote disclosed that the group relied heavily on support from local and international financial institutions to complete the refinery, especially after the naira’s devaluation increased project costs.
He named institutions including Afreximbank, Africa Finance Corporation, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, UBA, Standard Bank South Africa, and Standard Chartered Bank among key financiers that backed the project.
The businessman also admitted that rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have unexpectedly boosted parts of the group’s operations.
According to him, global fertilizer prices have surged sharply due to supply disruptions, while demand for aviation fuel and polypropylene has also jumped significantly.
He noted that fertilizer prices rose from around $400 per tonne earlier in the year to roughly $850, while polypropylene prices climbed from about $900 to nearly $3,000 in some international markets.
Dangote claimed local plastic manufacturers in Nigeria would have struggled severely without the refinery’s polypropylene production capacity.
“Our aviation fuel is already oversold till the middle of July, and we are producing about 20 million litres daily,” he added.
On crude supply, Dangote said the refinery currently sources around 56 per cent of its feedstock from Nigeria, while additional supplies are imported from countries including Angola, Libya, and the United States.
He further disclosed that the company plans to more than double refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day within the next 30 months.
The billionaire businessman also took aim at vested interests he described as a “mafia” benefiting from Nigeria’s old fuel subsidy regime and import-dependent petroleum market.
According to him, certain traders, importers, and middlemen resisted the refinery because it threatened long-standing profit structures tied to fuel imports and subsidy payments.
Looking ahead, Dangote said the group plans to inject nearly $45 billion into expanding its businesses as part of a broader strategy to achieve $100 billion in annual revenue by 2030.
He projected that the company’s market valuation could eventually exceed $250 billion if expansion targets across refining, cement, fertilizer, and petrochemicals are successfully achieved.
Dangote also shared personal sacrifices made while building his industrial empire, revealing that he sold his luxury properties in the United States and the United Kingdom so he could fully relocate to Nigeria and focus on growing the business.
“When I decided to go into industry, I sold all my properties abroad because I wanted to sit down in Nigeria and concentrate,” he said.
Explaining his investment philosophy, Dangote said the group focuses on producing goods Nigeria heavily imports, using what he described as a backward integration strategy aimed at reducing dependence on foreign products and strengthening local manufacturing.
