The planned initial public offering of Dangote Refinery is expected to open within the next 10 to 12 days as Africa’s biggest refinery moves closer to a share sale that could raise about $5 billion.
The refinery’s owner, Aliko Dangote, disclosed the timeline on Thursday while speaking with investors and analysts in Botswana, according to Reuters.
The proposed offering is expected to rank among the largest initial public offerings ever undertaken on the African continent, giving investors an opportunity to take stakes in one of Nigeria’s most significant industrial assets.
Dangote said the refinery would also be expanded substantially, with a long-term target of doubling its current capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day.
“So our dream is that we want to make sure we double the capacity of the refinery … which will take us to 1.4 million barrels per day,” he said.
The 650,000-barrel-per-day facility reached its full nameplate capacity in February and has already tested production levels of 700,000 barrels per day, according to the Reuters report.
Dangote has not publicly disclosed the refinery’s operating margins. However, refining profitability has strengthened amid disruptions to global energy supplies, particularly as conflicts in the Middle East have increased demand for alternative sources of refined petroleum products.
The planned IPO comes alongside other capital-market moves within the Dangote Group.
Dangote also said Dangote Cement’s proposed secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange would most likely take place in October. The additional listing is expected to widen the cement company’s access to international investors and capital.
Beyond Nigeria, Dangote is preparing to expand his refining interests into East Africa through a proposed refinery project on Kenya’s coast.
The project is being developed in partnership with East African governments and is expected to take as long as three years to complete. Once operational, it is expected to supply refined petroleum products to Kenya and neighbouring countries, reducing the region’s dependence on imported fuels.
Dangote said the project would be formally launched on September 30.
“We are launching it on September 30,” he told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s wider energy investment outlook could receive a major boost following its entry into the International Energy Agency as an associate member.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Thursday that Nigeria could potentially double energy-sector investment within five years as membership strengthens its ability to attract capital, improve technical cooperation and participate more prominently in global energy-policy discussions.
“My goal is, in a very short period of time, in five years, at least doubling the energy investments Nigeria is receiving today,” Birol told Reuters during a visit to Abuja.
Birol said Nigeria would need significant new investment to fully develop its opportunities across oil, gas and renewable energy, particularly solar power.
He argued that changing global energy-trade patterns could work in Nigeria’s favour as governments and private investors increasingly seek energy suppliers and partners considered dependable following disruptions caused by geopolitical conflicts.
“The most scarce commodity is not oil, not gas, not uranium, not lithium. It is trust,” Birol said, adding that countries were searching for partners they could rely on.
He described Nigeria as a credible energy supplier and pointed to the Dangote refinery’s exports as an example of the country’s growing importance in global refined-product markets.
According to Birol, supplies from the refinery, which has been processing around 700,000 barrels of crude per day, have helped ease fuel-supply pressures in Europe in recent months.
Nigeria is targeting a substantial increase in crude production, with an ambition to nearly double output to three million barrels per day by 2030.
The country is relying on reforms across the energy sector, infrastructure improvements and stronger security measures to curb oil theft and restore investor confidence after years of inadequate investment.
Nigeria formally became an associate member of the IEA in July after member countries, including the United States, Germany, Italy and Japan, unanimously approved its application, Birol said.
The development places Nigeria's investment push alongside the Dangote refinery IPO, as the country seeks to attract more domestic and international capital into its energy industry.