Dangote Industries has signed a major agreement with Honeywell to provide advanced refinery services and technology that will enable the expansion of its refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2028, a development seen as the strongest signal yet that Africa’s largest refinery is moving steadily toward becoming the world’s biggest petroleum processing hub.
Under the deal announced on Tuesday, Reuters reports that Honeywell will supply cutting-edge catalysts, equipment and technical support that will allow the refinery to process a broader range of crude grades.
This flexibility is critical to supporting the massive scale-up of operations as Dangote begins preparations for its second single-train unit.
The Dangote refinery, with an existing capacity of 650,000 bpd, is one of the world’s largest single-train refining facilities.
The partnership also comes at a pivotal moment for Honeywell, which is undergoing a major corporate restructuring as it prepares to spin off its aerospace division, currently its most profitable business.
The collaboration with Dangote is expected to boost revenues and reinforce Honeywell’s position as a key player in global energy technology solutions.
Last month, Dangote outlined a plan to double output by adding another 750,000-bpd single-train line within the next three years. When completed, the expanded 1.4 million-bpd capacity would allow the refinery to process nearly all of Nigeria’s current crude oil production of around 1.5 million bpd, a milestone that could significantly reshape the country’s energy landscape and foreign exchange earnings.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery, commissioned in 2023 with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
Earlier, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited signed a new crude deal with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery that will extend supplies for two years.
Under terms of the deal negotiated last month, the NNPCL will provide five cargoes each in September and October, spokesman Andy Odeh said.
Nigeria last year agreed to sell 445,000 barrels a day of crude to the Dangote refinery in naira to alleviate pressure on the currency and stabilize domestic pump prices. The agreement is a pilot project that may be extended to other domestic refiners, according to the government.
In October 2024, the Federal Government announced a Naira-to-Crude initiative, under which local refineries, including the world’s largest single-train Dangote Refinery, would receive crude oil supplies in the local currency
In May, the Dangote Refinery had said that it does not compete with Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), as the two companies play complementary roles in Nigeria’s energy and refining environment.