Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote eyes Egypt oil refining in $15 billion plan

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote said oil refining and petrochemicals would anchor his group's planned expansion into Egypt, where he is weighing investments of $10 billion to $15 billion, as the Egyptian government said it wanted a long-term strategic partnership with his conglomerate.

Dangote, Africa's richest person, said he initially expected to commit about $10 billion in Egypt and that the figure could rise above $15 billion depending on the outcome of talks with Egyptian officials, which he described as positive. He said he wanted Egypt to become a major exporter of refined petroleum products rather than mainly an importer, and that he planned to meet the country's investment minister to identify specific projects.

Cairo wants a partner

The Egyptian government's interest came through in a statement from the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones, the state agency that handles foreign investment. Its chief executive, Mohamed Awad, spoke on behalf of Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid at a Dangote event at the Egyptian Exchange's historic headquarters in downtown Cairo on Oct. 15.

Awad said Egypt wants to deepen investment partnerships with Africa's major conglomerates and hopes to build a long-term strategic relationship with Dangote Group. Farid, a former chairman of Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority, became minister in February.

At the same event, Egyptian Exchange chairman Omar Radwan said the bourse was studying Egyptian depositary receipts tied to Dangote Group companies, which would let local investors hold the shares through the Cairo market. The two sides agreed to hold technical talks on the mechanism.

From importer to exporter

Dangote has already done this in Nigeria, which exported crude for decades while importing most of its gasoline and diesel.

His refinery near Lagos, the largest single-train plant in the world, began processing crude in 2024 and recently reached a record 700,000 barrels a day. It now exports fuel to other countries in West Africa and beyond.

Dangote is in the middle of selling shares in the refinery. Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE is offering 4.1 billion shares at ₦525 ($0.39) each to raise about ₦2.15 trillion ($1.6 billion), with the option to go as high as $2.1 billion. The books close on Oct. 27 after a two-week extension that gives investors in other African countries more time. Dangote said the offer had drawn subscriptions "amounting to more than three or four times" the target.

Kenya, Botswana and Ethiopia have already set up ways for local investors to take part. Egypt is now looking at depositary receipts as well, though it is not clear whether a Cairo program could be ready before the Nigerian offer closes.

A 2030 target

The Egyptian plans sit inside a wider strategy that Dangote laid out in Cairo. He wants the group to reach annual revenue of $100 billion by 2030 and has pledged as much as $50 billion toward industrial projects across Africa by then, funded through internal cash, equity and debt.

The pipeline includes a 530-kilometer subsea gas pipeline, up to 10,000 megawatts of power generation, a linear alkylbenzene plant with a capacity of 400,000 metric tons a year, more urea fertiliser and polyethylene output, and a goal of 100 million tons of annual cement capacity at Dangote Cement, Africa's largest cement maker.

The Cairo visit followed Dangote's meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Oct. 3 at the Alamein Africa Business Forum on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, where they discussed potential investments in energy, fertiliser and cement.

A large commitment in Egypt would be Dangote Group's biggest move into North Africa. Dangote, who built his fortune in cement, sugar and flour before moving into fertiliser and refining, studied business at Al-Azhar University in Cairo.