Aliko Dangote plans to list between five and 10 per cent of Dangote Petroleum Refinery on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) within the next 12 months, continuing a playbook used for other Dangote Group units such as Dangote Cement and Dangote Sugar.
“We don’t want to keep more than 65%–70%,” the billionaire industrialist told S&P Global, indicating the stake sale will be phased, depending on investor appetite and market conditions. He added that the group is in talks with prospective partners from the Middle East to co-fund the refinery’s expansion and a new petrochemicals venture in China. “Now, instead of being 100 percent Dangote-owned, we’ll have other partners,” he said.
Dangote also signalled openness to further discussions with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) on its equity. NNPC recently cut its stake to 7.2%, but “once the refinery’s next growth phase begins,” a larger participation could be considered: “I want to demonstrate what this refinery can do, then we can sit down and talk.”
Commissioned in 2024, the Lekki-based facility aims to lift processing from its current nameplate 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 700,000 bpd by year-end, with a longer-term target of 1.4 million bpd—surpassing Jamnagar in India (1.36 million bpd). The company is also scaling its chemicals portfolio, planning to raise polypropylene output from 1.0 to 1.5 million metric tonnes annually and develop new lines in base oils and linear alkylbenzene.
On reliability, Dangote said most technical issues encountered during early operations have been resolved, but a planned one-month shutdown is likely for final adjustments. The maintenance window will be timed to avoid the end-of-year surge in fuel demand.
A listing would broaden local ownership of one of Africa’s most consequential industrial assets, deepen the NGX’s market capitalization, and potentially widen access to long-term naira funding. For Dangote Group, it marks a shift from tightly held ownership to a more partnership-driven capital structure aimed at accelerating expansion across refining and petrochemicals.
