LAGOS, Feb 17 – Nigeria’s Dangote Group has signed a $400 million equipment agreement with China’s Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG) to support the expansion of its oil refinery toward a 1.4 million barrels per day target, the company announced on Tuesday.
The deal will provide heavy-duty machinery to complement existing assets deployed for the refinery project, which Dangote expects to be completed within three years. The equipment will also support broader projects in refining, petrochemicals, agriculture, and infrastructure.
As part of the expansion, polypropylene production in Nigeria will increase to 2.4 million tons per year from 900,000 tons. Urea output will triple to 9 million tons per year, alongside a 3 million-ton facility in Ethiopia, positioning Dangote as the world’s largest urea producer. Linear alkyl benzene output, used in detergents, will rise to 400,000 tons annually, making the company the largest supplier in Africa. Additional base-oil capacity is also planned.
The company described the equipment purchase as a strategic investment aligned with its goal of becoming a $100 billion enterprise by 2030. In a statement, Dangote Group said the new machinery would “significantly enhance execution across our projects.”
Owned by billionaire Aliko Dangote, the $20 billion refinery began operations in 2024 after years of delays. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on imported refined fuel and reshape supply across West and Central Africa.
The expansion comes amid growing regional demand for refined products and petrochemicals, as Dangote Group continues to scale capacity across multiple industrial segments.
