File photo: Dangote Refinery
The Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has disclosed his vision to make the Dangote refinery the largest refinery in the world by 2028.
Currently, the 700,000 barrels per day refinery, situated in Lagos State, is Africa’s largest refinery.
He made the remark on Monday at the preliminary signing ceremony for the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals.
The IPO comprises 4.1 billion ordinary shares at N525 each and is expected to raise just over N2tn, according to Dangote.
The businessman said the minimum subscription would be 10 shares.
Dangote said, “Today marks a significant milestone for us as not just a company, but as Nigerians and also Africans.
“As we gather today to witness the preliminary activities that will set in motion the initial public offering (IPO) of the 700,000 barrels per day in the Dangote refinery and petrochemicals, the largest refinery in Africa, world’s largest single train, and soon to be the largest refinery by 2028 in the world history.”
The billionaire also noted the significance of the energy sector, as he related it to indusrralisation.
“Today also shows that nothing is impossible for us to achieve once we are focused and determined. Our vision 2030 mantra at the Dangote Group is accelerating Africa’s industrialisation.
“We have learned the hard way, and we cannot industrialise if we do not have the energy security,” he noted.
Dangote said the project began with bankers providing financial backing even before the company had settled on the refinery’s location or secured its licence.
“…bankers without them even seeing which site we were going to use. Without seeing the license, we didn’t even have a license of the refinery. But the shared trust between us and our bankers made them to put money on the table without asking too many questions. We thank you for your trust,” he said.
He said the company faced several hurdles in determining where to locate the refinery, saying, “Even though we had very false starts, several hurdles, in fact, on the land itself, we struggle for five years trying to find which land we’re going to use,” he said
In his remarks, the refinery’s CEO, David Bird, said the refinery remins the largest jet fuel supplier to Europe, as he also shared Dangote’s vision.
He said, “No better time than right now can we demonstrate the world class quality of our products because we are the largest jet fuel supplier into Europe
“This is now just a construction exercise that we believe we can deliver by 2028 to make the Dangote refinery the largest integrated refinery and petrochemical complex on the planet.”
Branding the IPO as one “for the peoplem” Dangote said it was an opportubity for everyone, irrespective of their social class, to own shares in the refinery.
“But it is not only to fund the expansion of the refinery, of course, it’s a bigger amount. What we are trying to do is to make sure majority of all these my—our drivers, our cooks, our, you know, servants, our managers, everybody, they will have an opportunity to have a stake in this refinery.
“So, this is why we have actually called it the IPO for the people. This is why we say that this is democratising. There is no segregation on who can own these shares. We want every human being living on the continent to be part of this action, and I’m sure they will continue to be happy now, future, and forever,” Dangote said.
