DANGOTE ADDS 4,000 MACHINES AS REFINERY EXPANSION MOVES TOWARD 1.4M BPD

Dangote Industries Limited has acquired an additional 4,000 pieces of construction equipment as part of the planned expansion of its Lekki refinery in Lagos. The new machines have increased the company’s construction equipment fleet to 6,500 units as Dangote moves to raise the refinery’s processing capacity from its original 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day. The disclosure was made by the Group Vice President, Oil and Gas and Fertiliser, Devakumar Edwin, during a briefing with editors following a tour of the refinery in Ibeju-Lekki.

Edwin explained that Dangote initially purchased 2,563 pieces of construction equipment after Julius Berger and other contractors indicated that they lacked the capacity to handle the construction of the refinery’s main process buildings. He said the company’s decision to acquire its own equipment eventually made it one of the largest construction equipment owners in the world. The latest expansion has added another 4,000 machines to the fleet, including 330 cranes, giving the group the capacity to undertake major construction activities required for the refinery expansion.

According to Edwin, Dangote’s decision to build its own construction capacity was also influenced by the high cost of relying on international engineering, procurement and construction contractors. He said some international contractors proposed fees of about 12.5 per cent of the estimated $19.5bn expansion cost, which would have amounted to approximately $2.5bn. Dangote Projects Limited therefore took responsibility for the detailed engineering, procurement and contracting work, while the group directly purchases equipment and materials needed for the project.

The refinery is already processing about 700,000 barrels of crude per day, above its original design capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. Edwin said infrastructure created during the first phase of the project would be reused during the expansion, helping to reduce both construction time and costs. The existing facilities include a 10-million-tonne-capacity granite quarry, 82 concrete batching plants, 203 transit mixers, a private port, an oxygen and welding-gas plant and accommodation facilities capable of housing up to 50,000 workers. The refinery was also designed to process different crude grades from Africa and the United States and produce Euro 5 and Euro 6 petroleum products.

Edwin said the expansion would further strengthen the refinery’s role in supplying both domestic and international markets, with the facility designed to direct about 44 per cent of its output to Nigeria and 56 per cent to exports. About 95 per cent of its production consists of high-value products such as petrol, diesel and aviation fuel, while the remaining five per cent comprises industrial products including carbon black feedstock. He added that the expansion, combined with Dangote’s planned 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Kenya, could eventually give the group a combined refining capacity of about 2.1 million barrels per day.