Alerted by the fuel turmoil following the war in Iran, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has announced plans to build the world’s leading oil refinery.
According to a report by Business Insider Africa, once completed, the refinery is expected to surpass India’s Jamnagar plant to become the largest in the world. The expansion—viewed as a significant boost to Nigerian fuel security—is expected to create 95,000 jobs. Dangote also unveiled plans to increase daily oil production to 1.4 million barrels per day.
Now, Dangote is prepared to fuel East Africa by replicating this mega-plant model in Tanzania.
According to a Bloomberg report, the war in the Gulf exposed the continent’s vulnerability: an over-reliance on fuel imports from the Middle East despite Africa’s vast domestic energy potential.
Dangote has promised to spend a portion of the $40 billion he intends to invest over the next five years to extend his industrial empire to the East Coast. An IPO for his industrial firm is expected to raise several billion dollars.
Although it took a decade to complete and faced many hurdles, the 650,000 barrel-a-day facility near Lagos has become a major boon for the Nigerian economy and Dangote himself. It reached full capacity just before the conflict in Iran erupted, prompting a surge in fuel requests from both African and European nations.
East African nations are now wooing him to replicate this success, offering crude oil from Uganda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, along with transportation infrastructure in Kenya. A pipeline is already under construction to transport oil from landlocked Uganda to the Tanzanian harbor of Tanga, where the proposed refinery will be located.
