Nigeria’s Richest Man Tries to Turn Around its Slippery Oil Slope

By CultureBanx Team

• Aliko Dangote is building the world’s largest single oil refinery
• The Dangote Group has signed a $650 million loan deal with Afreximbank

Nigeria’s wealthiest man Aliko Dangote is building the world’s largest single oil refinery through his Dangote Group. Currently, Nigeria exports all of its oil as crude and then reimports expensive refined petroleum. Will this move help to address the ongoing problems in Nigeria’s energy markets?

Why This Matters: The Dangote Group has signed a $650 million loan deal with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in order to complete the $10 billion project. As for the $650 million loan, it’s arranged as a seven-year term facility with interest to be paid quarterly. Standard Chartered Bank is also letting the company borrow $3.3 billion for the project and Dangote has put in $6 billion of his own money. The remainder will be funded by equity and through export agencies.

“When we finish this project, for the first time in history Nigeria will be the largest exporter of petroleum products in Africa,” Dangote told the Financial Times.

Just how robust will this new facility be for Nigeria? It will process 650,000 barrels of oil a day, while also pumping out all the plastic the country’s 190 million people need, Reuters reports. If that’s not enough the refinery will produce three million tonnes of fertilizer a year, that’s more than all its farmers currently use on their fields.

What’s Next: The oil refinery and petrochemical complex is scheduled to be completed by December 2019, according to Reuters. It would account for half of Dangote’s sprawling assets when it is finished next year.

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