Mr. Femi Otedola, Nigerian businessman, congratulated his billionaire friend Mr. Aliko Dangote on the Dangote Refinery reaching its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. He hopes this will make the Naira even stronger against the US Dollar in the currency market.
In a post on X on Thursday, Mr. Otedola called it a “transformative milestone” for Nigeria and Africa. He also said that the refinery’s activities might help Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves.
I want to congratulate my buddy and brother, @AlikoDangote, on the amazing achievement of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery attaining its maximum capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
“More importantly, it will change Nigeria and Africa. Providing up to 75 million liters of PMS per day changes the way we talk about energy and saves foreign exchange.
“With domestic refining now firmly underway after decades of reliance on imports, pressure on the foreign exchange market should relax dramatically. He stated, “I am hopeful that the Naira will get stronger, and trading below N1,000/$1 before the end of the year is getting closer.”
Reports from earlier today say that the single train refinery’s naphtha hydrotreater, isomerisation unit, and reformer unit are all working smoothly at 650,000 barrels per day. This lets the facility make up to 75 million liters of Premium Motor Spirit (gasoline) every day, which greatly increases Nigeria’s domestic fuel supply and cuts down on the need for imports.
The $20 billion refinery, the biggest in Africa, started up in 2023 and has been increasing production despite problems such a lack of crude oil.
In October 2025, Mr. Dangote said he wanted to increase capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, which would make it the largest refinery in the world, bigger than India’s Jamnagar complex.
Mr. Otedola said that his best friend is putting in another $12 billion for this expansion, which includes making polypropylene and linear alkyl benzene for detergents. Work has already begun.
“Aliko isn’t done yet. He has started a $12 billion expansion to raise refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, as well as 2.4 million tons of polypropylene and 400,000 metric tons of Linear Alkyl Benzene for making detergent. The work has already begun in earnest.
“Once again, congratulations, my brother.” He said, “Nigeria is proud of you.”
About the Author
