Dangote-backed mega refinery sparks east African competition {Business Africa}

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:03]Turkish Airlines presents Business Africa.

[00:00:11]Welcome to this new edition of Business Africa. I'm your host AFU. The top stories this week. On this episode, we speak to Africa's richest man on how his planned East African mega refinery could accelerate Africa's push to refine its own oil wealth.

[00:00:29]As global fuel prices spark amid US, Iran, Israel tensions, Uganda bets on homegrown electric bus innovation to transform African urban transport.

[00:00:41]In Rabbit, the African Development Bank and OCP group launched a nearly 1 billion euro grain fertilizer fund to safeguard Africa's food supply.

[00:00:53]A proposed mega refinery project backed by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is stirring regional competition between Kenya and Tanzania. Both vying to o the project. The refinery is seen as a potential gamecher for a region still heavily dependent on imported fuel despite significant oil reserves.

[00:01:15]>> Africa has historically imported its raw wealth only to buy it back at a premium.

[00:01:22]The continent sits on nearly 10% of the world's crude oil reserves. Yet its citizens routinely queue for hours just to buy a single liter of fuel.

[00:01:32]The problem, a severe lack of refining capacity. Africa imports over 70% of its refined fuel, draining over $100 billion in foreign reserves every single year.

[00:01:44]The continent's richest man, Liko Dangote, set out to break this cycle by building the world's largest single train refinery, a 20 billion mega project designed to rewrite continental trade. Today, the facility processes 650,000 barrels a day, flipping Nigeria from a net importer to a fuel exporter.

[00:02:07]But the vision doesn't stop here. By 2030, the group aims to refine a staggering 2.1 million barrels daily, an output that will be second only to Saudi Aramco.

[00:02:21]From a domestic game changer to a crosscontinental industrial giant, how does one group intend to power the future of Africa? We're here with Aliko Dangote himself. Welcome to the show.

[00:02:33]Let's talk about the refinery expansion and why it seemed necessary considering operation started barely two years ago.

[00:02:39]>> The expansion of the refinery is not also just for Nigerian market. No, because right now we have way above Nigeria's consumption. We're actually helping a lot of African countries out of this crisis. So the expansion we're looking at how do we actually participate in some of the eastern part of Africa or southern part of Africa of which from here will be able to now address those issues and that's the main key why we are putting off a large tank farm in Namibia and then that is in a place called Walres Bay from Wal Bay we are now pumping it into Botswana Botswana into Fretown that's South Africa and then the other pipeline will go to Zimbabwe Zimbabwe it will go to Zambia Zambia will go to DRC so we want to be almost everywhere within the continent and you know it's not only the expansion here right as today uh hopefully even this year I think we'll be able that's is 2026 we'll be able to start the one which we call East African refinery that is not going to be Adam's name but we are the promoters and we are looking at building the same capacity with Nigeria the only difference is that there will do other products like base oil which we are not doing here and because it's going to use much heavier crude so there are a couple of things that we'll do so that the synergy will be there from East Africa will be able to serve Kenya Tanzania uh Uganda, Mozambique on the upper one, Ethopia you know this apart from all the other inner countries you know like part of Zambia and also part of you know Norwanda part of uh DRC southern Sudan the refinery there actually I believe it is more justified when you look at when we did the refinery in Nigeria this one is in East Africa has much bigger in terms of volume than one in Nigeria.

[00:04:52]>> Now since the commencement of the refinery, how has it changed the macroeconomic landscape in Nigeria? By >> 2030, the group Dut group will be refining 2.1 million barrels a day.

[00:05:07]And if we're at 2.2 two 2.1 million barrels a day will be almost like one of the largest refiners of crude after most likely after Saudi Aramco.

[00:05:20]I don't know what Saudi Aramco actually is refining. I have it somewhere but because you know they have in different countries but where they have the majority I think uh they are the only ones that will be bigger than us but will be the second largest in refining in terms of capacity >> beyond PMS what impact has petrochemicals and polyropylene production had on the industrial landscape >> makes me feel great that at least one group can actually make a very big difference And uh that's what we've been actually doing as a group. We have not only done it in uh petroleum products.

[00:06:01]We've done it in sugar. We've done it in cement. And now we're doing it in uh you know uh petroleum. Not only petroleum, we're also doing it in petrochemicals.

[00:06:12]Because today if not because of dangote polyropylene I can tell you for nothing most of the uh bagging in fact even production of cement would have been impossible because when we produce it we need somewhere to pack so the polyropylene was very difficult because Saudi Aramco Iran all these areas they've been blocked from coming into the market so the difference is heavy even though yes some of the elites They know of it but they don't want to accept. It is a game changer.

[00:06:46]>> Mr. Alik Dangoti, thank you so much for making up time for this interview.

[00:06:52]The USIsrael conflict with Iran has left several African countries struggling with rising fuel prices. In Uganda, a governmentbacked electric bus plant is offering a cheaper and cleaner mobility alternative for the continent.

[00:07:10]Road transport dominates Africa's mobility landscape where most cars are imported. The continent also faces several infrastructure problems as well as increased fuel prices due to the Middle East tensions.

[00:07:25]But by building bus bodies from ordinary metal to fitting systems and assembling, Uganda is accelerating electric public transport.

[00:07:37]About 21% of material of an electric vehicle made here is locally sourced. In terms of energy, one electric vehicle can go a distance of up to 350 km without charge, thereby lowering the operational cost of transport.

[00:07:54]The IBAS express service has offered transport to about 400,000 passengers in the country over the past 2 years.

[00:08:03]Charging 40 cents for a 15 km journey.

[00:08:07]It seeks to grow exponentially by 2030 >> to deploy 1,500 Kyola electric buses in 14 cities of Uganda that are powered and charged by a 260 DC fast charging network. But of course, a workforce must be there to envision and also actualize this goal.

[00:08:31]We are looking at employing 6,500 Ugandans directly.

[00:08:38]Of course, ensuring that we provide transport for 12.5 million Ugandans daily.

[00:08:48]It takes a fortnite to make one bus and engineers here continue to build cheaper technologies to meet rising demand from other countries like South Africa >> in Rabbat. The African Development Bank and OCP group signed a landmark nearing 1 billion euro deal to protect Africa's food supply from the global disruption by building a self-reliant green fertilizer corridor for African farmers.

[00:09:20]We have more in this report.

[00:09:25]The signing of this major deal marks a historic shift for African farming. By using the African Development Bank's top financial rating of €450 million euro guarantee has instantly unlocked an additional€530 million from international private banks, making nearly€1 billion available for local production.

[00:09:49]This massive cash injection hits the ground just as global markets face severe gridlock. The effective closure of the straight of our muz has chucked off onethird of the world's seaborn fertilizer trade, keeping up to 3 million tons of critical crop nutrients trapped at sea every single month.

[00:10:07]The global supply squeeze was instant, sending standard nitrogen fertilizer prices soaring past $850 per metric ton. Subsaharan Africa relies on foreign nations for 90% of its fertilizer needs. Worst the usage gap is massive. The global average sits at 135 kg of fertilizer per hectare while African farmers use just 17.

[00:10:36]This new 1 billion euro fund changes the game entirely. OCP Group is using the money to completely ditch volatile global fossil fuel chains, moving its massive industrial plants to wind power, solar energy, and dissalinated water.

[00:10:55]With that, we've come to the end of this edition of Business Africa. Thank you for watching. For more business stories and the latest updates, stay tuned to Africa News or visit us online at africannews.com. See you soon.

[00:11:15]Business Africa was presented by Turkish Airlines.