Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery is preparing for a dual listing on both the London and Nigerian stock exchanges, a senior executive announced on Tuesday.
On the same day, media reported that Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the Dangote Group, suggested the possibility of listing the company in Nigeria by the end of the year.
Devakumar Edwin, an executive at Dangote Refinery, informed Reuters that the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), formerly known as Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) alone could not handle the listing, necessitating the addition of the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
“We have listed all our businesses. The NGX does not have sufficient capacity to manage the petroleum refinery exclusively. Therefore, we need to list on the LSE as well as the NGX,” Edwin explained.
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, also holds stakes in Dangote Cement, Dangote Flour Mills, and Dangote Sugar, all of which are listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Located on a peninsula near Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, the Dangote Refinery is Africa’s largest. Built for $20 billion after numerous delays, it has a capacity of up to 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) and will be the largest in Africa and Europe upon reaching full capacity this year or next. Dangote has been securing crude supplies for the refinery.
Recently, the refinery secured a crude supply deal with TotalEnergies. Despite being in Africa’s largest oil-producing country, the refinery has had to import oil from the United States.
The refinery is set to begin refining Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) soon. The dual listing on the NGX and LSE aligns with these production plans.
Dangote previously announced that PMS refining would start next month, although Standard and Poor’s (S&P) analysts suggested a more realistic timeline would be the fourth quarter of the year.
The Dangote Refinery has missed production deadlines before and only started distributing diesel and aviation fuel almost eight months after its commissioning last May.
The refinery aims to significantly reduce energy imports in Nigeria and across West Africa.
An earlier report from Nairametrics indicated that full production commencement at the refinery could lead to the closure of some European refineries that currently export to Africa, significantly reducing the $17 billion spent on gasoline imports into Africa.
Credit: Nairametrics (Text Excluding Headline)
