Dangote Announces Plans for Tanzania Refinery to Replicate Lagos Model

Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the Dangote Group, has announced plans to construct a new oil refinery in Tanzania that will serve as a technical replica of the 650,000 barrels per day facility in Lagos, Nigeria.

The announcement was made during a panel session at the Africa Finance Corporation summit in Nairobi, where Dangote met with several East African heads of state to discuss regional energy security.

The proposed refinery is intended to be located in Tanga and will be positioned as a regional energy hub. It is expected to process crude oil from neighboring countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

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Dangote confirmed that discussions are underway to establish the facility as a joint venture, aiming for completion within the next four to five years to serve the growing demand in East and Central Africa.

“If the regional leaders support the refinery, we will build an identical one to what we have in Nigeria,” Dangote stated.

The initiative is part of a broader strategy to expand refining capacity across the continent and reduce reliance on imported petroleum products.

The Lagos refinery, which has reached full nameplate capacity, recently commenced shipments of gasoline and urea fertilizer to various African markets, including 17 cargoes of gasoline delivered in early April.

To support the expansion of the Lagos facility and the development of new projects, the African Export-Import Bank has underwritten $2.5 billion of a $4 billion senior syndicated term loan. The Dangote Group is also pursuing an increase in capacity at the Lagos plant to 1.4 million barrels per day.

The expansion will further boost polypropylene output to 2.4 million metric tonnes annually, strengthening the group’s role in the continental industrial supply chain.