Dangote Group, owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, said on Monday it plans to buy phosphate from Morocco and potash from Congo-Brazzaville to feed a planned fertilizer plant.
Dangote has raised a $3.3-billion loan to develop a $9-billion oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and top oil producer.
The group has invested $3.5-billion of its own equity.
Dangote said his firm was close to signing a deal with a Moroccan firm to supply phosphate. He also said his planned oil refinery would have a capacity of 650 000 bl/d, up from an initial plan of 400 000 bl/d.
The refinery and petrochemical complex will go online around 2018, company officials have said. He said Dangote Group was also constructing a gas pipeline beneath the sea to link Nigeria’s oil-producing Delta region to West Africa. The pipeline will be able to transport 1.5-billion standard cubit feet of gas per day.
Dangote Group, which is active in cement, oil, food and sugar business, is also expanding into farming. Dangote said his firm planned to produce one-million tonnes of rice within five years.
“Our projects are mainly import substitution.” he said. “We are working to be self-sufficient.”
