Dangote Group has begun construction of a $2.5 billion fuel storage and distribution project in Namibia, marking a major expansion of the Nigerian conglomerate’s petroleum products distribution ambitions across Africa.
The project, launched on Wednesday, November 4, will establish a fuel depot outside the port of Walvis Bay and a 1,700-kilometre pipeline designed to transport petroleum products to Botswana and South Africa, with potential access to other landlocked markets.
Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group, said the investment was intended to improve access to petroleum products across countries without direct access to seaports, while reducing supply costs.
“We want to heavily invest so that most of the landlocked countries will be able to access petroleum products at a cheaper price,” he said at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Dangote said the project would strengthen Namibia’s energy security and support regional trade and industrial development across Southern Africa. The investment also comes as African countries reassess their fuel supply arrangements following disruptions to Middle Eastern exports linked to the Iran war.
The move reflects Dangote Group’s broader plan to build a regional distribution network around its 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Nigeria, which began operations two years ago. The group is also pursuing a proposed $660 million pipeline project between Ethiopia and Djibouti, alongside plans for another refinery in Kenya to serve Eastern African markets.
For Nigeria, the expansion could provide a wider export channel for petroleum products from the Dangote refinery, although the source does not specify projected volumes or the timeline for commercial operations at the Namibia facility.
The development follows the closure of the initial public offering of a minority stake in Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which attracted applications from investors in 120 countries, including all 54 African countries. The offering could raise up to $2.1 billion if the company exercises its greenshoe option.
Dangote Group plans to invest $14 billion in doubling the refinery’s processing capacity from nearly 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029. The planned expansion, combined with investments in regional storage and pipelines, points to a strategy that extends beyond refining into the infrastructure required to move petroleum products across African markets.