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Dangote Refinery to double workforce, targets 1.4m bpd by 2029, 600km offshore gas pipeline – EnviroNews
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Dangote Refinery says it plans to double its workforce as it targets 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) capacity from 700,000 bpd by 2029.
Mr. Devakumar Edwin, Group Vice President, Oil and Gas and Fertiliser, Dangote Industries Ltd., disclosed this during a tour of the refinery by newsmen in Lagos on Friday, September 18, 2026.
Edwin said basic engineering for the expansion had been completed, with almost all detailed engineering work also concluded.
He said most equipment had been ordered, while major contracts had been signed and advance payments made to contractors.
“We are targeting for three years, and probably we may be even doing faster,” he said.
According to him, the expansion will cost slightly less than the first phase because key supporting infrastructure, including the quarry, welding-gas plant, port facility and developed land, is already available.
Edwin said the company was also negotiating lower engineering and design costs, as much of the expansion would replicate existing facilities.
He, however, said additional petrochemical facilities would raise the overall cost of the project.
Edwin said the refinery, originally designed for 650,000 bpd, was currently operating at about 700,000 bpd, while a tour guide said its crude distillation unit had been tested at about 710,000 bpd.
He said the refinery was designed to process a wide range of crude grades, including most African crude grades and U.S. West Texas Intermediate, to reduce dependence on Nigerian crude.
“We have designed it to have a wider range of crudes which can be processed in the refinery,” he said.
Edwin said the flexibility was necessary because much of Nigeria’s crude had initially been committed under existing obligations.
He said the refinery was also configured to maximise petrol output in line with Nigeria’s consumption pattern, with petrol accounting for 53 per cent of its production capacity, compared with about 22 per cent in conventional Nigerian refineries.
“We designed it in such a way that 95 per cent of our production is high-value, either petrol or diesel or jet fuel,” he said.
He said the remaining five per cent comprised lower-value industrial products, adding that the refinery was designed to produce Euro 5 and Euro 6-standard petroleum products for domestic and international markets.
According to him, the refinery currently exports petrol, aviation fuel and diesel to markets in the United States, Europe and other regions.
Edwin said the expansion would also increase petrochemical production, including linear alkyl benzene, base oil and polypropylene.
It was observed during the tour that relatively few personnel were deployed around the refinery’s operating units, which a guide attributed to the facility’s high level of automation.
He said more than 70 per cent of the refinery was automated, with major processing units controlled from the main control room.
Work on the expansion was underway within the refinery complex.
The tour covered the central laboratory, Main Control Room, gantry and other processing units, as well as loading bays and storage tanks for crude, intermediate products and finished petroleum products.
Expansion comes as Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals seeks to raise about ₦2.15 trillion through an ongoing initial public offering (IPO), with proceeds expected to fund the capacity expansion.
Dangote Industries Ltd. also said it plans to develop a 600km offshore gas-gathering pipeline as its refinery and fertiliser complex generates more than 650 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
Edwin said the East-West offshore gas-gathering project would connect offshore gas producers to a pipeline for transporting gas to shore.
He said the engineering design had been completed and construction was expected to commence soon.
“We want to run, in the first place, a 600-kilometre pipeline in the sea,” Edwin said.
He said offshore gas producers would be able to connect to the pipeline and deliver gas for processing.
According to him, the gas can either be treated and returned to the producers or purchased and utilised by the company.
Edwin said the project would help address Nigeria’s inadequate infrastructure for transporting offshore gas to shore.
He said some gas discoveries remained undeveloped because of the lack of infrastructure to transport the resource to shore.
“When we strike a gas well, if it is full of gas, we just cap the well and sit it,” he said.
On power generation, Edwin said the refinery currently generates 501MW to meet its operational requirements.
He said the fertiliser complex generated more than 150MW, bringing total power generation across the complex to more than 650MW.
“All of it is going for our own consumption, including standby capacity,” he said.
Edwin, however, said the company could generate additional electricity for commercial use in the future.
He identified inadequate distribution infrastructure and revenue collection as major challenges to commercialising the additional power.
“The opportunity is there to generate power and go into it as a business,” he said.
He said Dangote had expertise in power generation using gas turbines, gas engines, coal and other thermal technologies.
Edwin said the company was also expanding its fertiliser operations, with plans to increase production from three million tonnes to 12 million tonnes annually.
He said the expansion included four additional fertiliser trains in Nigeria, as well as projects planned for Ethiopia and another African country.
According to him, the company will also produce additional fertiliser products, including diammonium phosphate and single super phosphate.
He said the expansion would help meet growing fertiliser demand in Nigeria and other African countries.
Edwin linked the expansion to the company’s strategy of processing locally available raw materials into higher-value products.
“We want to take the raw materials from the countries and add value, create employment, add to the GDP,” he said.
He said the company was also expanding its chemical operations, including projects for linear alkyl benzene and base oil production.
Edwin said polypropylene production would also be expanded as part of the company’s petroleum and petrochemical development programme.
The gas, power and industrial expansion projects are part of Dangote’s wider investment programme.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is seeking to raise about ₦2.15 trillion through an ongoing initial public offering (IPO) to fund expansion and strengthen its capital base.
Edwin said the refinery’s processing capacity would be increased from the current 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.4 million bpd.
He said most engineering work for the refinery expansion had been completed, while major equipment had been ordered.
“We are targeting for three years, and probably we may be even doing faster,” he said.
Edwin also said the company was developing pipelines and storage facilities across Africa to improve fuel distribution and energy security.
According to him, the projects will reduce dependence on road transportation and improve access to petroleum products in landlocked countries.
He said the wider expansion programme formed part of the company’s Vision 2030 strategy to increase industrial value addition across Africa.
By Olusegun Aribike
