How Oil Mafia Tried To Stop My $20bn Refinery Project — Dangote

How Oil Mafia Tried To Stop My $20bn Refinery Project — Dangote

Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has revealed how powerful interests in Nigeria’s oil sector allegedly fought to frustrate the construction of the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

Dangote alleged that influential fuel importers and entrenched players in the petroleum industry resisted the project because they feared it would disrupt the long-standing business of importing refined petroleum products into Nigeria.

Speaking during an interview with Nicolai Tangen, Chief Executive Officer of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Dangote explained that his decision to build the refinery was driven by decades of fuel scarcity and endless queues at filling stations across Nigeria.

According to the billionaire businessman, it was troubling that Nigerians often spent hours and even days trying to purchase petrol despite the country being one of Africa’s largest crude oil producers.

“We looked at oil. Africa produces oil, but many countries don’t refine it. They export crude and import refined products, which drains foreign reserves,” Dangote said.

“In Nigeria, we had fuel queues for more than 50 years. People queued for days during Christmas just to buy petrol in an oil-producing country. Government refineries were not functioning properly, so I decided to take the bold step of building a refinery.”

Dangote disclosed that the refinery project, which began in 2013, faced major obstacles from the onset, including delays in land acquisition and alleged sabotage from vested interests within the oil business.

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“Some of these obstacles were created by entrenched interests in the oil business — what you might call a mafia — trying to stop us from solving these problems. But we stayed focused,” he stated.

The industrialist explained that the scale of the refinery project forced his company to build several critical infrastructures from scratch because existing facilities in Nigeria could not support the project.

According to him, the company had to construct its own seaport to handle heavy industrial equipment, some weighing up to 3,000 tonnes.

Dangote also revealed that his company built roads, water systems and other support infrastructure for the refinery complex located in Lekki, Lagos State.

“When we started, the naira exchange rate was ₦156 to the dollar. At one point it went as high as ₦1,900, but we still continued,” he said.

He added that the refinery’s water treatment section alone occupies more than 30 hectares and processes about 440 million litres of treated water.

Dangote further disclosed that about 67,000 workers participated in the construction of the refinery, which is currently regarded as the world’s largest single-train refinery with a processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.

Reflecting on the project, the billionaire admitted that he initially underestimated the enormity of what his company was undertaking.

“Honestly, we were lucky we didn’t fully understand the enormity of what we were building at the beginning. If I had seen the full scale immediately, I might have chickened out,” he said.

“It was like swimming across the ocean. Once you’re in the middle, you can’t go back, so you keep moving forward.”

Dangote also praised several financial institutions that supported the refinery project despite widespread skepticism.

He specifically acknowledged the support of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), African Finance Corporation, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, United Bank for Africa, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

The Dangote Refinery, which officially commenced operations in 2024, has begun supplying diesel, aviation fuel and petrol to Nigeria and other African markets.

Energy analysts believe the refinery could significantly reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported fuel, save foreign exchange and position the country as a major exporter of refined petroleum products in Africa.

How Oil Mafia Tried To Stop My $20bn Refinery Project — Dangote