Aliko Dangote revealed that his company received around $5.5 billion in financing from domestic banks to build the Dangote refinery.
He stated this at the ‘AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum’ in The Bahamas on Wednesday.
Dangote indicated that the loan was obtained using the company’s balance sheet, rather than project finance from international lenders.
When we were building the refinery, we knew that if we had gone with the idea of project financing, the international banks would have shut it down. They might have asked me for my great-grandmother’s certificate of birth which I don’t think I will be able to find it anyway.
“What we did was to borrow the money based on our own balanced sheet. At that time, Naira was very strong. We borrowed the money based on our own balanced sheet.
He joked that requesting overseas sponsorship would have resulted in unreasonable demands, such as producing his great-grandmother’s birth certificate.
Construction delays resulted in high interest accumulating on the loan. Despite these hurdles, the corporation has made significant headway in repaying its debt.
The corporation still owes almost $2.7 billion, however they have performed well given the project’s size.
“We borrowed about $5.5 billion and have repaid approximately $2.4 billion, including interest,” Dangote said.
“We now owe around $2.7 billion and have managed well considering the project’s magnitude.”
The Dangote refinery in Lagos, Nigeria, is Africa and Europe’s largest petroleum refinery, with a daily refining capacity of 650,000 barrels.
This plant is expected to export petroleum products to Nigeria and other African countries that now rely on European energy sources.
The refinery has started exporting jet fuel to Europe, with the first shipment leaving Lagos for Rotterdam on May 27th.
This shipment included 45,000 metric tons of jet fuel for BP. Additionally, the refinery has begun delivering diesel to the local market.
“We had a bit of delay, but PMS will start coming out by 10 to 15 of July. But then we want to keep it in the tank to make sure that it settles. So, by the third week of July, we’ll be able to come out to take it into the market,” Dangote said.
However, there has been a slight delay in the supply of PMS, now expected to commence by mid-July.
