Dangote Refinery Turns Nigeria Into a Fuel Exporter and Eyes a $50bn Listing

For decades, Nigeria endured the paradox of being one of the world's major crude producers while importing almost all of its refined fuel. That era is ending, and the engine of the change is the Dangote refinery, Africa's largest, which has upended the country's energy economics.

The 650,000-barrel-per-day facility is now running near full tilt — around 99 percent of capacity — and has turned Nigeria into a net exporter of petrol. It supplies roughly 80 percent of domestic demand and ships surplus fuel to markets across West and East Africa, reshaping regional trade patterns and easing the chronic shortages that once defined Nigerian life.

Its founder, Aliko Dangote, is not stopping there. He has unveiled plans for a 20,000-megawatt power project — a staggering ambition in a country where unreliable electricity has throttled growth for generations — and has signalled intentions to expand refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day. A replica 650,000-barrel refinery has even been proposed for Tanga, in Tanzania, extending the model to East Africa.

The most closely watched development is financial. The refinery is heading toward an initial public offering targeting a valuation of around $50 billion on the Nigerian Exchange, with a secondary London listing under consideration and a subscription window expected to open in the coming weeks. It would rank among the largest listings in African history.

Risks remain, from crude supply logistics to the sheer scale of the ambitions. But the transformation is already tangible: a single, colossal industrial project has moved Nigeria from fuel dependence toward energy self-sufficiency, and is now reaching for the power grid and the stock market too.