We Borrowed $5.5 Billion to Build the Refinery and Repaid $2.4 Billion with Interest – Dangote

Aliko Dangote disclosed that his company secured approximately $5.5 billion in loans from domestic banks to build the Dangote refinery. 

He revealed this during Wednesday’s ‘AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum’ held in The Bahamas.

Dangote explained that the loan was obtained based on the company’s balance sheet, rather than through project financing from international lenders. 

When we were building the refinery, we knew that if we had gone with the idea of project financing, the international banks would have shut it down. They might have asked me for my great-grandmother’s certificate of birth which I don’t think I will be able to find it anyway.  

“What we did was to borrow the money based on our own balanced sheet. At that time, Naira was very strong. We borrowed the money based on our own balanced sheet. 

He humorously noted that seeking international funding would have led to excessive demands, such as providing his great-grandmother’s birth certificate.

Loan Interest and Repayment

The construction delays led to significant interest accumulation on the loan. Despite these challenges, the company has made substantial progress in repaying the debt. 

Accordingly,  he noted that the company still owes approximately $2.7 billion and emphasized their impressive performance given the project’s scale. 

“We borrowed about $5.5 billion and have repaid approximately $2.4 billion, including interest,” Dangote said. 

“We now owe around $2.7 billion and have managed well considering the project’s magnitude.”

Dangote Refinery Impact and Operations

The Dangote refinery, located in Lagos, Nigeria, is the largest petroleum refinery in Africa and Europe, with a refining capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. 

This facility is expected to supply petroleum products to Nigeria and other African countries that currently rely on Europe for their energy needs.

The refinery has begun exporting jet fuel to Europe, with the first shipment leaving Lagos for Rotterdam on May 27th. 

This shipment included 45,000 metric tons of jet fuel allocated to BP. Additionally, the refinery has started supplying diesel to the local market. 

“We had a bit of delay, but PMS will start coming out by 10 to 15 of July. But then we want to keep it in the tank to make sure that it settles. So, by the third week of July, we’ll be able to come out to take it into the market,” Dangote said. 

However, there has been a slight delay in the supply of PMS, now expected to commence by mid-July.