‘By 2030, African countries will be largely self-sufficient in refined fuel’ – Dangote

Nigerian billionaire and businessman Aliko Dangote has said Africa could meet most of its refined fuel needs from local production by 2030, as he prepares to launch a major refinery project in Kenya.

Dangote made the projection in an interview with AFP in Nairobi on Tuesday, ahead of the groundbreaking ceremony for a new $16 billion oil refinery on the Kenyan coast.

The planned refinery, which will have a processing capacity of 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day, is expected to take about 30 months to complete.

The project is being positioned as part of a broader push to increase Africa’s capacity to process its own raw materials instead of relying heavily on imported refined petroleum products.

Dangote said the refinery would contribute to efforts to transform Africa from an exporter of raw materials into a continent capable of producing and exporting finished products.

The businessman, who is Africa’s richest man, has previously invested heavily in Nigeria’s refining sector through the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which has a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.

He said the expansion of refining capacity across Africa could significantly reduce the continent’s dependence on imported fuel and strengthen local industrial production.

“By 2030, the majority of African countries will be self-sufficient. It does not matter where it is refined, but it should be in the African continent, on the soil of Africa,” he said in response to a question from AFP on when Africa would no longer need to import finished petroleum from other regions.

“The biggest problem is that we export raw materials at maybe 5 to 10 percent of its value, and then we end up buying at 100 percent of its value,” he added.

“We are exporting jobs, because when we keep exporting raw materials, you are creating jobs out there. And when you buy finished products from them… you are importing poverty, because you are not actually creating any jobs here.”

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