President Dangote Group of companies Alhaji Aliko Dangote has in France confirmed that his group will be focussing on export to foreign markets to generate foreign exchange. This is in line with the comments made by the CBN governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele that the Federal Government will soon start sourcing foreign exchange from Dangote Group, as soon as the latter’s refinery, petrochemicals and fertiliser projects come on stream. This potential reversal of roles was disclosed by the Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, after he spent over four hours touring the ongoing Dangote Refinery, Petrochemicals, Fertiliser projects and Dangote deep-water jetty at the weekend.
Emefiele had toured the project sites in the company of the President/CE of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; Deputy Governor of the CBN, Aishah Ahmad; Group Managing Director, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr. Olakunle Alake; Group Executive Director of Dangote Industries, Mr. Devakumar Edwin; and the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank, Mr. Segun Agbaje. The CBN governor premised his comment on the huge forex earnings that are expected to accrue from the export of the petrochemical and fertiliser products from the Dangote refinery and fertiliser plants by the time the fertiliser plant begins operations in May this year, and the refinery takes off as planned in 2020.
Aliko Dangote said he’s on schedule to finish by next year his $15 billion oil refinery, which will be one of the world’s biggest, despite analysts saying the timeline is ambitious. “There are quite a lot of challenges, but we’re moving,” Dangote told reporters at a conference in Paris about the plant, which is being built near Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, and designed to process 650,000 barrels of crude daily. “We’re still targeting next year for commissioning.” The 61-year-old said he will export about 35 per cent of the refinery’s products, while the rest will serve the local market. Dangote Industries Ltd. said last year the plan is to produce about 50 million liters (13.2 million gallons) a day of gasoline and 15 million liters of diesel, though output can be changed according to demand. The company has been in talks with oil traders including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Vitol Group and Trafigura Group Pte about them supplying crude and buying refined fuel.
The complex will include a $2.5 billion fertiliser factory with a capacity of 3 million metric tons annually, set to be ready this year, and a petrochemical plant. They will be powered by gas, which will be sent from the Niger River delta via two 550-kilometer (341-mile) underwater pipelines, also costing Dangote about $2.5 billion. Aliko Dangote, said he expected to step up exports of cement and other commodities from Nigeria from this year as he focuses on foreign markets to boost sales and generate much-needed hard currency. Dangote told Reuters he expected to have 8 million tonnes of cement to start exporting from July and was commissioning a 650,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery near Lagos – set to be Africa’s biggest – next year. The export drive would expand further from 2020. “By next year we will start exporting more than 2 million tonnes of ammonia out of our 3 million tonnes’ capacity and we will export more than 35 percent of petroleum products and about 30 million tonnes of cement,” he said.
He did not identify which foreign markets he was targeting. Availability of hard currency in Nigeria would not be an issue provided oil prices stayed relatively buoyant. “If the price of oil stabilises at $60, I don’t think we would have any problem,” said Dangote, who according to Forbes is currently worth $10.5 billion. “We are looking forward and making sure that we supply more forex in the domestic market,” Dangote said. Nigeria used to spend around $2.5 billion a year to import cement but with increased investment it has become a net exporter. Dangote said his firm, Dangote Cement, could earn about $600 to $700 million annually from cement export. It has been expanding across the continent in recent years and already operates in 10 African countries, It has about 45 percent market share in sub-Sahara Africa with an annual production capacity of around 45 million tonnes. Dangote Cement has been seeking to double that capacity.
