The President and Chief Executive of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Aliko Dangote, said on Monday that the refinery would increase its capacity from 500,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day by early 2029.
He also assured all categories of Nigerians, including small and low-income earners, that they would be accommodated in the refinery’s ongoing initial public offering, saying their returns on investment would be in dollars.
Dangote disclosed this while speaking virtually at the final IPO roadshow, with the theme, “Back to Where It All Began,” organised by the Financial Derivatives Company for the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Monday.
Dangote also projected significant growth in the refinery’s petrochemical operations, saying the facility would produce no fewer than 2.5 million tonnes of polyolefin and 400,000 metric tonnes of linear alkylbenzene, which he described as major milestones for Africa’s industrial development.
He stated, “By 2029 beginning, we will be at 1.4 million barrels per day. That is a total of 10 per cent of America’s total refining capacity. We will be at 2.5 million tonnes of polyolefin, which is the largest ever in African history.”
On concerns about the reported oversubscription of the IPO and its limited share offering, Dangote assured prospective investors that smaller subscribers would be prioritised.
“Most of the smaller people who are bidding for 50,000 shares and below will definitely be sure that we accommodate all of them,” he said.
He defended the offer price of N525 per share, describing it as attractive and expressing confidence in the refinery’s financial performance.
“I think it’s an extremely very, very good price,” he stated, noting that the company’s performance could surpass its projected full-year earnings and describing the shares as a long-term investment opportunity.
Dangote further said investors could potentially earn more than double their investments within two and a half years.
In his keynote speech, the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company, Bismarck Rewane, urged Nigerians to see the IPO as an opportunity to transition from consumers to investors in strategic national infrastructure.
Rewane said the refinery’s public listing could significantly expand the Nigerian capital market, projecting that market capitalisation could exceed N220 trillion following the listing.
Describing it as the largest IPO in Africa, Rewane added, “This is an IPO in which three countries, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, are getting their citizens to invest in Africa. The joint venture between Ethiopia and the WG refinery is building the largest fertiliser plant in the world.
“You can tell. Today, Donald Trump is talking about diesel. Diesel comes out of the refinery. Diesel is determining what happens in the 19 days from the end of the inter-election.
“The price of diesel is going to determine the outcome of the largest economy in the world. So hold on to what you have. Make that transition from being a citizen to becoming a citizen plus an investor. And make that transition from being a citizen plus investor to becoming an African investor, where the economy of steel and the benefits will improve to all of us here.”
Also, the second keynote speaker, economist and Founder/CEO of the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, said the investment would strengthen Nigeria’s economic fundamentals through industrialisation, employment generation, reduced dependence on imported petroleum products and increased foreign exchange stability.
Yusuf said the refinery’s impact extended beyond fuel production to petrochemicals, packaging, plastics and other industries that depend on locally processed raw materials.
Yusuf further said the IPO would deepen public participation in the capital market and promote wider ownership of strategic industrial assets.
“So this particular investment has come to strengthen the macroeconomic fundamentals of the Nigerian economy. In other words, strengthen the foundation on which the economy stands. So we are looking at the different dimensions of impacts, current and potential impacts on the Nigerian economy of this refinery”, Yusuf added.
In his remarks, the special guest of honour, Paul Usoro, SAN, urged people of the South-South region and, by extension, the Niger Delta to take advantage of the share offering.
While noting that he had invested in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Usoro stressed the need for Nigerians to have a stake in an industry built around the country’s natural resources, even as he recalled the long queues that adorned petrol stations across the country before the Dangote Refinery came on stream.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria stated that domestic refining capacity could help reduce such disruptions, saying, “For me it all began here (Niger Delta) because if I take a trip from here and I get to my village I am from Ikot-Ekpene, not far from here (Rivers).
“So those of us who are from the South-South, my message is going to be particularly to you today. And that is that we have a stake in what happens as far as the Dangote Refinery is concerned,” Usoro stated.