African business mogul, Mr Aliko Dangote, plans to expand his refinery by producing key chemicals used in detergents and cleaning products.
Mr Dangote, who is the major stakeholder in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE, will use Honeywell International Inc.’s technology to produce 400,000 metric tons a year of linear alkylbenzene (LAB), the US-based industrial conglomerate said in a statement on Monday.
The refinery, which has a capacity to process 650,000 barrels of crude a day, is now targeting another import-dependent Nigerian market and positioning the business as a major player in the global supply chain.
The project will produce Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB), the chemical used to make the surfactants, the active cleaning agents in soaps and detergents. This is not a consumer detergent, but the raw material that detergent manufacturers rely on.
The plant is expected to be completed within the next 30 months and produce 400,000 tonnes annually, far exceeding Africa’s current capacity.
Mr Dangote had already hinted at the plan during a tour of the refinery with Mr Bayo Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, in February.
“And that raw material for detergent will be sufficient for the entire African continent. It’s 400,000 tonnes, which we don’t have. The only two are one in Algeria, 100,000 tonnes, and Egypt, 50,000. But we are going 400,000. And we will deliver all this in the next 30 months,” Mr Dangote said at the time.
Africa currently depends heavily on imports of LAB, with only two existing plants on the continent, Algeria (100,000 tonnes) and Egypt (50,000 tonnes).
Dangote’s facility could meet the continent’s entire demand, reduce import dependence, and support local detergent manufacturing.
The LAB project also deepens the conglomerate’s broader petrochemical footprint, complementing its operations in fertiliser, cement, oil refining, agriculture, and industrial manufacturing.