Dangote Set to Introduce Another Product From Refinery, Names New Target Customers
- The Dangote oil refinery in Lagos has begun operations on its polypropylene plant, which will soon be unveiled
- The opening of Dangote's 830,000 metric tonnes per year polypropylene facility is one of the last remaining tasks for the oil refinery
- The Dangote Group president had previously stated that the complex will fully supply the nation's yearly demand for polypropylene
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Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has 5-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
The polypropylene unit at the Dangote oil refinery in Lagos has started. According to information obtained by The Punch, the polypropylene factory will shortly be formally unveiled.
Source: UGC
According to S&P Global, one of the final unfinished tasks for the oil refinery and petrochemical complex in its commissioning sequence is the opening of Dangote's 830,000 metric tonnes per year polypropylene plant.
“Polypropylene production has now started, with supplies being distributed in 25kg bags, and has already threatened to upend the domestic market,” two market sources had told Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Dangote providing supplies of polypropylene
According to a trade source, the Dangote Group started proactively providing supplies of polypropylene as early as February.
Aliko Dangote, the president of the Dangote Group, had earlier expressed optimism that the complex will completely meet the country's annual need for polypropylene, a substance frequently used in textiles and plastic packaging, at a rate of about 250,000 metric tonnes.
With two polypropylene units with capacities of 500,000 mt/year and 330,000 mt/year, the Dangote factory is expected to grow into Africa's largest polypropylene production site once it is fully operational.
Market players have cautioned that the new capacity might swiftly take market share in the current polypropylene homopolymer market, which has, up until now, been dominated by imports from the Middle East and centered at Indorama Eleme's Port Harcourt refinery in Nigeria, according to S&P Global.
The massive privately held Dangote complex has demonstrated the potential to substantially undercut regional producers in the oil market thus far, leading to sharp discounts in the retail market for gasoline from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Due to outages at NNPC's recently reopened Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, the refinery has already significantly displaced conventional trade routes for oil products that would normally flow from Europe to West Africa, catering to an increasing share of the domestic market.
Refinery will soon operate at maximum capacity
In February, the Dangote Group stated that by March, the refinery should be operating at its maximum capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, depending on crude availability.
According to the sources, there is no revised schedule for when the petrochemicals complex will be fully utilized.
The business previously stated that the $2 billion petrochemical facility in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State, is intended to manufacture 77 distinct high-performance grades of polypropylene domestically.
The Dangote Petrochemical plant, which is located next to the Dangote Refinery and has a $1.2 billion turnover, is well-positioned to meet the needs of the expanding downstream plastic processing industries in Africa and beyond.
Group Executive Director, Strategy, Capital Projects & Portfolio Development, Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, provided an update on the petrochemical plant in Lagos.
He stated that Dangote Petrochemical will stimulate significant investment in the downstream industries, creating jobs, generating enormous value addition in the nation, increasing tax revenues, decreasing foreign exchange outflow, and raising the GDP of the nation.
“We have 77 types of polypropylene, which can go for different uses that we can produce from our petrochemical plant. Currently, the plant is capable of producing about 900,000 tonnes of polypropylene per annum. Our Petrochemical plant should be the biggest in Africa.
“Right now, raw materials from polypropylene are imported into the country. There is no foreign exchange for manufacturers to import raw materials. The Dangote Petrochemical plant is going to take care of this challenge.
“When the raw materials are locally available, there will be many more people who will be willing to invest in the economy. So, it is not just the savings of foreign exchange from petrochemical products’ importation; the country’s downstream sector will also benefit hugely from the availability of petrochemicals in the country,” Edwin said last year.
Importance of polypropylene
Polypropylene is a synthetic fabric composed of thermoplastic polymers derived from petroleum. It comes from propylene gas, which is a byproduct of the manufacture of natural gas and oil. First, the gaseous form of crude oil is used to extract the key monomer propylene.
Plastic packaging, fibres and textiles, seats, piping systems, plastic parts for machinery and equipment, and goods for medical or laboratory applications are just a few of the many things made from polypropylene.
Dangote Refinery crashes petrol prices again
Legit.ng reported that on Thursday, March 13, 2025, the Dangote Refinery escalated the petrol price war by quietly lowering the PMS price at its loading gantry. The giant refinery crashed petrol prices from N825 per litre to N815.
The development came as the plant introduced a new pricing structure on Thursday, March 13, 2025.
According to reports, marketers expressed optimism at the new price as they have begun to boycott private depots and start sourcing products directly from the Dangote Refinery.
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Source: Legit.ng
