Dangote’s Next Move Could Create the World’s Largest Refinery

Dangote's 700,000 b/d Lekki refinery has been running at full capacity over the past two months, pushing product exports to Europe to record levels and overtaking traditional suppliers from the Gulf ...

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markets close in 1h 15m S&P 500 7,801.46 -5.78 -0.07% Dow 30 51,722.05 -128.50 -0.25% Nasdaq 27,175.88 -70.02 -0.26% Russell 2000 2,786.72 -7.76 -0.28% 10-Yr Bond 5.22 -0.02 -0.44% VIX 15.41 +0.20 +1.31% Gold 4,182.00 -8.60 -0.21% Bitcoin USD 82,957.34 +625.63 +0.76% Crude Oil Nov 26 94.23 +0.49 +0.52% ADVERTISEMENT Dangote’s Next Move Could Create the World’s Largest Refinery Natalia Katona July 8, 2026 7 min read CL=F +0.47% Dangote's 700,000 b/d Lekki refinery has been running at full capacity over the past two months, pushing product exports to Europe to record levels and overtaking traditional suppliers from the Gulf and the US.

Its rise has already reshaped the West African fuel trade: imports of clean products from outside the region fell by almost 25% year-on-year in the second quarter.

Yet Dangote is treating this only as a starting point.

The group plans to add another crude distillation unit (CDU), lift total capacity to 1.45 million b/d and build a wider network of product-storage and distribution infrastructure across Africa.

The ambition is vast, but so are the challenges.

The refinery's latest maintenance and upgrade programme lifted capacity from 650,000 b/d to 700,000 b/d by de-bottlenecking the existing crude distillation unit.

That increase took roughly 2.5 years to deliver, with regular crude purchases beginning in March 2024.

Dangote is targeting mechanical completion of a new 750,000 b/d CDU and additional secondary units by December 2028, potentially including another vacuum distillation unit as well as expanded polypropylene, base-oil and linear alkyl benzene capacity.

If completed, the project would make Lekki the world's largest refinery at 1.45 million b/d, narrowly ahead of Reliance Industries' 1.4 mi Skip to navigation Skip to main content Skip to right column Yahoo Finance Sign in U.S.