Otedola hails Dangote as refinery hits full 650,000 bpd capacity

By John Ogunsemore

Billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola has congratulated his friend and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, on the Dangote Petroleum Refinery achieving its full nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd).

In an X post on Thursday, Otedola described it as a transformative milestone for Nigeria and Africa.

The refinery, located in Lagos, reached this capacity following the optimisation of its Crude Distillation Unit and Motor Spirit production block, making it the first single-train refinery globally to sustain full nameplate output at this scale.

Managing Director of Dangote Refinery, David Bird confirmed that all key components, including the naphtha hydrotreater, isomerisation unit, and reformer unit, are now operating steadily at 650,000 bpd.

This enables the facility to produce up to 75 million liters of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) daily, significantly boosting Nigeria’s domestic fuel supply and reducing reliance on imports.

Otedola highlighted the economic implications, noting that the refinery’s operations could ease pressure on Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves.

He said, “I congratulate my friend and brother, @AlikoDangote, on the remarkable achievement of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery reaching its full 650,000 barrels per day capacity.

“More importantly, it is transformational for Nigeria and Africa. Supplying up to 75 million litres of PMS daily changes our energy narrative and conserving foreign exchange.

“With domestic refining now firmly underway after decades of reliance on imports, pressure on the foreign exchange market should ease significantly. I am optimistic that the naira will strengthen meaningfully, and trading below ₦1,000/$1 before year-end is increasingly within reach.”

The $20 billion refinery, Africa’s largest, began operations in 2023 and has been ramping up production amid challenges including crude supply issues.

Dangote announced plans in October 2025 to expand capacity to 1.4 million bpd, which would make it the world’s largest refinery, surpassing India’s Jamnagar facility.

Otedola added that Dangote is investing an additional $12 billion in this expansion, including production of polypropylene and Linear Alkyl Benzene for detergents, with work already underway.

He stated, “Aliko is not stopping here. He has embarked on an additional $12 billion expansion to increase refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, alongside 2.4 million tons of polypropylene and 400,000 metric tons of Linear Alkyl Benzene for detergent production. Work has already commenced in earnest.

“Congratulations once again, my brother. Nigeria is proud of you.”