The Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical, David Bird, has disclosed that the $20 billion facility is expanding its storage, logistics and maritime infrastructure to strengthen import and export operations.
Bird said the coastal location and deep-sea access of the refinery were deliberately designed to support a merchant operating model that relies heavily on maritime activities rather than a single crude supply pipeline. He noted that as operations ramp up, the refinery’s port is projected to receive about 600 vessels annually.
Speaking to members of the Maritime Correspondents’ Organisation of Nigeria (MARCON) after a tour of the facility on Tuesday, Bird said the engagement was aimed at correcting misconceptions about the refinery’s operating model.
He explained that the anticipated scale of vessel traffic presents significant opportunities for job creation, local content development and growth in logistics services.
On the company’s plans in the shipping sector, Bird said Dangote Industries is seeking greater control of its supply chain. According to him, the firm has moved from sourcing vessels on the open market to time-chartering ships and is considering outright vessel acquisition once adequate cash flow is achieved.
“It is a no-brainer to control one’s supply chain,” Bird said, citing recent vessel-related disruptions as justification for deeper involvement in shipping.
He added that the strategy aligns with Dangote’s Pan-African expansion drive, including plans to establish a tank farm in Namibia and ongoing engagements in Cameroon and Ghana to secure reliable product distribution outlets across the continent.
Bird further explained that unlike traditional refineries in crude-producing countries and parts of the Middle East that process crude from a single source, the Dangote facility operates a global merchant model similar to those in Rotterdam and Singapore. In this system, feedstock is sourced from multiple locations worldwide and transported by sea, while refined products are distributed both domestically and internationally via maritime routes.
“This is not a refinery just sitting at the end of a crude pipeline. All of our feedstock is imported by sea, and our products can go into Nigeria or out to the global market. That is the standard merchant refinery model,” he said.
Providing additional insight, an engineer in the refinery’s Maintenance Planning Department, Victor Ngangha Oyama, said the Dangote Port, originally constructed as a jetty to receive specialised equipment during the refinery’s construction phase, has now been transformed into a full import and export hub.
He said the port currently handles fertiliser exports to countries including Brazil, receives raw materials and is undergoing further expansion to accommodate increased vessel traffic as production scales up. According to him, the development reinforces the refinery’s growing role in regional and global maritime trade.
Earlier, the Head of Marine, Petroleum and Petrochemical at the refinery, Captain Satendra Singh Rana, detailed the facility’s offshore marine infrastructure at the landfall point where crude is received and products are exported.
Rana revealed that the refinery operates five Single Point Mooring (SPM) buoys offshore — two designated for crude oil and three for refined products — linked by 48-inch pipelines buried two metres beneath the seabed for safety.
He said the crude SPMs are capable of accommodating Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) carrying up to two million barrels, with some shipments reaching three million barrels. The system, he added, is designed for rapid turnaround, with most vessels processed within 24 hours and larger tankers within 36 hours.
According to Rana, the facility has already handled about 800 tankers, describing the achievement as a milestone for a new refinery-terminal combination.
“With the refinery ramping up to 650,000 barrels per day, we expect about 600 tankers per year, combining crude and products,” he said.
He also noted that the offshore configuration takes advantage of natural water depths of up to 40 metres for crude and 20 metres for refined products, eliminating the need for expensive maintenance dredging. The SPMs and telemetry systems, he added, were designed and manufactured by a Houston-based company in the United States and rank among the highest-rated safety systems in global maritime energy trade.
