Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has announced that he will invest US$8bn into the construction of a new oil refinery that will double Nigeria’s current refining capacity
The details of the site have yet to be unveiled, but the refinery will have a capacity of around 400,000 bopd by late 2016, with construction work expected to start on the project before the end of 2013.
According to Reuters, Dangote said, “There has not been a new refinery for a long time in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Dangote added that his company was still awaiting final approval from the federal government and that once it had been achieved, work would start on the refinery.
In 2011, the Nigerian government granted approval to 19 multinationals to set up private refineries in the country, but none of them has still come on stream due to the regulation of fuel in the country.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producing country with four existing refineries. None of these refineries, however, currently operate at full capacity.
