Amid the astonishing increase in refining capacity across several markets in the world, a new era of increased production of essential energy resources has landed in Africa, with the Dangote Group announcing its plans to enlarge its mega-refinery in Nigeria to reach 1.4 million barrels per day. Dangote has an astonishing and huge refinery in its home nation of Nigeria that has become the backbone of the African energy market in recent years, and now, the group has selected several new partners to increase refining capacity over the coming years.
Dangote signs new contract with Engineers India to boost refining capacity
The Nigerian company recently announced that it has selected Engineers India to provide the necessary support to increase refining capacity at its refinery in Nigeria, setting the stage for a new era of massive capacity for the African energy market, which has been growing at an incredible rate in recent months and years.
Engineers India, which is based in New Delhi, served as the project management consultant and handled engineering, procurement, and construction management for the already impressive existing 650,000 bpd facility. Dangote has noted that as part of its expansion plan, the refinery will temporarily shut its gasoline-producing residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) for up to five weeks between December and January.
Dangote’s refinery in Nigeria is among the largest in the world
The refinery is undoubtedly the largest in Africa, and the seventh largest anywhere in the world. It has undergone several rounds of maintenance this year. The residue fluid catalytic cracker recently experienced an outage before being brought back online in October, with the group stating, “There is a little bit of a design issue with it, which was rectified (during the outage).”
Alongside the significant refinery expansion, Dangote also wants to increase fertiliser production
The substantial expansion of its refinery seems to just be the start for the African energy company, as it also aims to boost fertiliser production at the facility. Dangote noted that the plan is to increase its urea output to 12 million tonnes per year over the next three years. The group has the backing of its owner, the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote. The expansion comes as other energy companies outline similar ambitions further afield.
On top of the expansion plans that are to be supported by Engineers India, Dangote has also selected Honeywell to provide technology and services for the planned expansion at its Nigerian refinery. The plan, according to Dangote, calls for Honeywell to handle a variety of crude grades and increase polypropylene production to 2.4 million metric tons over the next few years.
“The refinery will transform Nigeria from a fuel importer to a net exporter of refined products. We are not only building a refinery, we are also building a petrochemical complex that will generate huge employment opportunities for Nigerians. We will save Nigeria up to $10 billion annually in import costs, money that can now be channelled into other critical sectors. The refinery will be the largest single-train facility in the world, with the latest technology to ensure efficiency and low emissions.” – Aliko Dangote
Dangote’s refinery in Nigeria has become an exemplar of Africa’s energy refining capacity
While the expansion of the Dangote refinery is a step in the right direction for the company and the African energy market overall, it has not been without its problems. Earlier this year, the group was ensnared in a controversy surrounding a strike by truck drivers on site, following accusations that the company was preventing them from unionizing, which Dangote promptly denied. The expansion comes as the group noted its ambition to increase production amid new import duties imposed by the Nigerian government.
