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The oil refinery owned by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote generated $5.52 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the first nine months of 2026, almost nine times the $627.6 million it made a year earlier, as Africa's largest refinery processed more crude and earned more on every barrel.
The figure, known as EBITDA and widely used by investors to measure how much cash a business produces from its operations, came in unaudited results released in Lagos on Tuesday by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE. Revenue rose 144% to $22.5 billion in the nine months through Sept. 30, from $9.2 billion in the same period of 2025. Net profit reached $4.73 billion, compared with a loss of $117.2 million a year earlier.
The results arrive two weeks before the close of the refinery's initial public offering, the largest ever attempted in Africa, and give investors their first detailed look at how much the plant can earn now that it is running above its design capacity.
"Our third-quarter performance demonstrates the successful transition from commissioning and ramp-up activities to sustainable commercial operations," Chief Executive Officer David Bird said in the statement. He attributed the jump in EBITDA to "higher throughput, improved operational reliability and stronger gross refining margins."
Margins widen
The sharpest change was in profitability. The refinery's EBITDA margin, the share of each dollar of revenue left over as operating earnings, rose to 24.56% from 6.83% a year earlier. A year ago the plant was still ramping up and much of its revenue was absorbed by costs. It now keeps almost a quarter of every dollar it brings in before financing costs and depreciation.
Earnings also accelerated through the year. EBITDA stood at $2.60 billion at the end of June, which means the refinery generated about $2.92 billion in the third quarter alone, more than in the entire first half. Third-quarter revenue was about $8.57 billion, and net profit for the three months was about $2.9 billion.
The operating gains have reached the balance sheet. Cash generated from operations rose more than tenfold to $3.68 billion from $364.7 million. Cash balances climbed to $6.69 billion at the end of September from $809.5 million a year earlier, and the company moved from net debt of $1.73 billion to net cash of $650.8 million, meaning it now holds more cash than it owes.
What investors are paying
The numbers give investors a clearer way to judge the price of the share sale. The refinery is offering 4.1 billion shares at 525 naira each, worth about 2.15 trillion naira or $1.6 billion, a price that values the whole company at about $47 billion, according to Reuters calculations.
If the refinery keeps earning EBITDA at its nine-month pace, it would make about $7.4 billion for the full year, a Billionaires.Africa calculation. That would value the company at a little more than six times annual EBITDA. Repeating the third quarter for a full year would imply EBITDA of about $11.7 billion.
The offer was due to close on Oct. 13 but was extended to Oct. 27 after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved Dangote's request to give more investors outside Nigeria time to take part. Dangote said on Oct. 12 that the company had already received orders worth "more than three or four times" what it set out to raise. It has not published subscription figures.
"These results reflect the strength of our integrated business model and provide a solid foundation as we progress through our IPO and execute our Vision 2030 growth strategy," Bird said.
Dangote and his affiliates own about 80.7% of the refinery, and the share sale represents about 3.4% of the company. State oil company NNPC Ltd. holds 6.8%, and Greenview International holds 6.5%.
Doubling capacity
The refinery in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos cost about $20 billion and began producing fuel in 2024. It was designed to process 650,000 barrels of crude a day and now runs at about 700,000 barrels a day. Dangote plans to double capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day by 2029 through a $14.3 billion expansion that the IPO proceeds will help pay for.
"With our expansion programme already underway, we remain focused on increasing refining capacity and broadening our product portfolio," Bird said.
The turnaround strengthens the fortune of Dangote, Africa's richest person, whom Forbes valued at $51.7 billion on Oct. 10. Most of his wealth has long come from his majority stake in Dangote Cement, the continent's biggest cement maker. The IPO will put a public market value on the refinery for the first time.
The plant still faces disputes at home. It is seeking permission to appeal a Federal High Court ruling that ordered Nigeria's downstream regulator to keep issuing fuel import licences to three rival marketers, and Nigeria's oil minister has acknowledged that the refinery cannot get enough Nigerian crude to meet its needs.
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