Loan approved for grassroots Nigerian refinery

Nigerian business conglomerate Dangote Group has secured a $300 million loan for the construction and operation of a greenfield refinery and polypropylene plant in Nigeria.

The board of directors of African Development Bank (ADB) on June 13 approved the loan, which also will be used for the construction of a greenfield fertilizer manufacturing plant, ADB said.

Together, the planned projects will double the country’s refining capacity, reduce by 80% current fuel imports into Nigeria, eliminate foreign fertilizer imports, and help Nigeria to progressively become a major exporter of both petroleum products and fertilizers, according to ADB.

Dangote Group previously signed a $3.3 billion loan agreement with a consortium of international banks for the refining complex and fertilizer plant in September 2013, according to a Sept. 4, 2013, release from Standard Chartered Bank, who served as lead financier for the deal.

Land acquisition for the refinery and petrochemical plant, both to be cited in the free-trade zone of Nigeria’s Ogun state, is nearing completion, according to information posted to Dangote Group’s web site.

The company earlier let a contract to Engineers India Ltd. (EIL) for project management consultancy and engineering, procurement, and construction management for the planned 400,000-b/d refinery and 600,000-tonne/year polypropylene plant (OGJ Online, Nov. 25, 2013).

The refinery project will include a crude distillation unit, single-train residual fluid catalytic cracking unit, diesel hydrotreating unit, continuous catalyst regeneration unit, alkylation unit, and polypropylene unit, EIL said.

A single-point mooring terminal for crude oil and product handling also would be integrated with the refinery, EIL said.

An official timetable for construction and commissioning of the refining and petrochemical project has not been disclosed.