The president of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, has said the Dangote refinery plans to pursue a listing on the US stock exchange after increasing its capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day within the next two and a half years.
Dangote made the disclosure during an interview with CNN on Thursday.
“After we have gone to 1.4 million bpd in the next two and a half years, we will now list in the US and I believe a lot of other people too will join, because by that time, we’re going to be the biggest refinery ever in the history of the world, with a massive petrochemical complex,” he said.
“I think it is going to be something that people would definitely rush [to] buying.”
The billionaire also described the refinery’s planned initial public offering (IPO) as the “biggest IPO ever in the history of Africa”, saying he expects it to be “massively oversubscribed”.
Dangote said interest in the shares had already been overwhelming.
He explained that the decision to list the refinery on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) would provide Africans with an opportunity to own a stake in the business.
According to him, expanding the refinery to 1.4 million barrels per day would also position it as a major supplier of jet fuel to the international market.
“We’ll be the biggest in terms of gas oil, which means diesel, to the world market,” Dangote added.
Dangote’s proposed Kenya refinery
Speaking about his plan to construct a $15 billion refinery in Kenya, Dangote said his earlier position that he would never build another refinery had changed because of the experience and knowledge gained from the Nigerian project.
“I told you that, look, I will never, ever attempt to build a refinery again. But right now, to tell you the truth, I now understand how it is,” he said.
“We have the best team in the world to deliver. We have a team that is very solid. We’re used to delivering this.”
Dangote said the expertise gained from constructing the Nigerian refinery had become proprietary knowledge within the group.
“This is something that we’re taking now as our own patent. I don’t believe, and I repeat, I don’t believe there’s any company today on earth that can deliver a 700,000 barrels per day refinery,” he said.
“We now have the techniques, we know how to do it, and we will deliver on schedule and cost.”
On September 7, Dangote said the refinery would become the world’s largest by 2028.