According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Dangote refinery has doubled Dangote’s net worth to $27.8 billion
Aliko Dangote, the Chairman of the Dangote Group, is now richer than ever after the completion of his $20 billion refinery, a report by Bloomberg has disclosed.
Located in Lekki, Lagos, the Dangote refinery is the biggest single-train oil refinery in the world and one of the most complex, capable of processing most global crude types.
At its 650,000 capacity, the refinery has the potential to transform Nigeria’s economy by making the country self-reliant on fuel.
“And it’s more than doubled his net worth to $27.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index,” the report said of the refinery.
It could be recalled that Dangote’s net worth was around $13 billion as of the first quarter of 2024.
While speaking earlier about his refinery, Africa’s richest man, Dangote, said he did not know that the mafia in oil is stronger than the mafia in drugs.
During a recent visit to New York, Dangote said: “I didn’t know what we were building was a monster. The pressure was coming from different directions, people confusing us, disturbing us every day with different media stories that it will never work, it will never work, it will never work.”
Since the refinery started running in January, there have been disagreements with the government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, as well as concerns over its impact on locals and the environment.
Bloomberg notes that Dangote is smarting from the blowback, his tone quickly shifting from warm to bitter as he runs through the challenges.
For Dangote, who made his first billions in cement, the refinery was the most audacious undertaking of his 46-year career.
According to Dangote, building it took 11 years and $20 billion, three-and-a-half times as long and more than twice as much as initially planned.
The bedrock of Dangote’s empire is commodities: mainly cement but also sugar, salt, and flour.
“Dangote’s critics call him a politically connected monopolist, but he’s proud of his role in building Nigeria’s manufacturing sector. Before he went into business, Nigeria imported most of its cement — a literal building block of developing markets. Now it’s a net exporter of the substance. With the refinery, he saw an opportunity to do the same for the country’s oil industry,” the report expatiates.
