Dangote forays into to oil and gas sector

Aliko Dangote, CEO of the Dangote Group, is moving into the oil and gas sector as he eyes up Chevron and Shell oil fields to feed the group’s planned US$9bn refinery, the largest privately-owned refinery facility in the country.

He intends to acquire the oil companies’ blocks of oil-rich swamp – formerly intended for the Olokola LNG project, which was expected to supply two trains of 6.3Mta of LNG, with a final capacity of up to 35Mta. To realise his plans, he has put in the highest bid for Shell’s stake on the OML 18 gas field, which has a reserve of nearly 1.5bnboe.

“We’re seriously thinking of investing in oil blocks, both for gas and for oil. We’ve started talking with some companies who are divesting from onshore,” Devakumar Edwin, group executive director, Dangote Cement Plc, was quoted as saying.

The Group also has interests in the cement industry and needs energy for its cement plants in the country.