Dangote Refinery to Sell 10% Stake on NGX, Targets 1.4m bpd Capacity

The Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals has revealed plans to sell five to 10 per cent of its stake on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited within the next year.

Aliko Dangote, the founder of Dangote Group, reportedly hinted at this in an interview with S&P Global on October 20.

He said the move will mirror the approach adopted for Dangote Cement and Dangote Sugar Refinery.

According to the billionaire businessman, the shares would be offered gradually, depending on investor appetite and market depth.

He hinted further that the group is considering strategic partnerships with Middle Eastern companies to support the refinery’s expansion and the development of a new petrochemicals project in China.

“Our business concept is going to change. Now, instead of being 100 per cent Dangote-owned, we’ll have other partners,” Dangote said.

He said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited could increase its stake in the refinery, but not until the next phase of the project’s growth is fully underway.

The state-owned oil company had reduced its interest to 7.2 per cent.

“I want to demonstrate what this refinery can do; then we can sit down and talk,” Dangote said.

Increase production to 1.4m bpd amidst other plans

He also hinted that the refinery has plans to increase its output to 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd).

In July, Dangote unveiled plans to expand the refinery from its current 650,000 bpd to 700,000 bpd by the end of the year.

“Now, the target is to reach 1.4 mbpd, with no specified date, a scale that would surpass the world’s largest 1.36 mbpd refinery in Jamnagar, India,” S&P Global said.

The company is also developing linear alkylbenzene and base oil projects and aims to increase polypropylene production from one million metric tonnes to 1.5 million metric tonnes annually in the coming years, Dangote said.

On the refinery’s residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) maintenance plans, he acknowledged that while most of the technical issues had been resolved, a few still lingered.

“We have resolved most, not all, but most of the problems. And I think we’re looking for a window when we shut down for another month,” Dangote said.

He said the planned turnaround would be carefully scheduled to avoid clashing with the year-end surge in fuel demand.

Commenting on the dismissal of 800 staff members, Dangote said the refinery’s reorganisation was nearly complete and had helped ease recent tensions with labour unions.

“We don’t have any worries with the unions,” Dangote assured.

He added that the production from the company’s upstream assets in the Niger Delta — oil mining leases (OML) 71 and 72 — is expected to begin this month, with output projected to reach up to 40,000 barrels per day.

While he said the group remains open to new upstream opportunities, the focus now is on consolidating ongoing projects.

Pinnacle Daily reported recently about the calls for some companies’ shares to be listed on the NGX, including the Dangote Refinery.