The Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical, David Bird, has said the $20 billion facility is scaling up its storage, logistics and maritime infrastructure, with plans to receive about 600 vessels yearly as operations ramp up.
Gatekeepers News reports that speaking to members of the Maritime Correspondents’ Organisation of Nigeria (MARCON) after a tour of the facility on Tuesday, Bird said the refinery’s coastal location and deep-sea access were deliberately designed to support efficient import and export operations.
He stressed that the facility operates as a merchant refinery, heavily dependent on maritime operations rather than a conventional refinery tied to a single crude pipeline.
“The Dangote port is expected to receive about 600 vessels yearly as operations ramp up,” Bird said.
According to him, the projected vessel traffic presents significant opportunities for job creation, local content development and logistics growth.
Addressing speculation about the company’s entry into shipping, Bird said the group is working towards greater control of its supply chain. He noted that the company has moved from sourcing vessels on the open market to time-chartering ships, with outright vessel acquisition firmly on the agenda once cash flow strengthens.
He described supply chain control as “a no-brainer,” pointing to recent vessel-related disruptions as evidence of the need for deeper involvement in shipping.
Bird also linked the strategy to the company’s Pan-African expansion drive, referencing plans for a tank farm in Namibia and ongoing engagements in Cameroon and Ghana to secure reliable product outlets across the continent.
Explaining the refinery’s operational model, Bird said it mirrors global merchant refineries in Rotterdam and Singapore, where feedstock is sourced from multiple locations worldwide and transported by sea.
“This is not a refinery just sitting at the end of a crude pipeline. All of our feedstock is imported by sea, and our products can go into Nigeria or out to the global market. That is the standard merchant refinery model,” he explained.
On his part, an engineer in the Maintenance Planning Department and one of the tour guides, Victor Ngangha Oyama, said Dangote Port—originally built as a jetty to receive customised equipment during construction—has been transformed into a full import and export hub.
Oyama noted that the port currently handles fertiliser exports to countries including Brazil, receives raw materials, and is undergoing further expansion to accommodate increased vessel traffic as operations scale up. He added that the development reinforces the refinery’s expanding footprint in regional and global maritime trade.
Earlier, the Head of Marine, Petroleum and Petrochemical, Captain Satendra Singh Rana, provided insights into the refinery’s offshore marine infrastructure at the landfall point where crude is received and products are exported.
Rana disclosed that the refinery operates five Single Point Mooring (SPM) buoys offshore—two dedicated to crude oil and three to refined products—connected by 48-inch pipelines laid two metres beneath the seabed for safety.
He said the crude SPMs can receive the world’s largest tankers, including Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) carrying up to two million barrels, with some vessels delivering as much as three million barrels per shipment.
According to him, the system is designed for quick turnaround, with most vessels processed within 24 hours and larger tankers within 36 hours.
“With the refinery ramping up to 650,000 barrels per day, we expect about 600 tankers per year, combining crude and products,” Rana said.
He revealed that the facility has already handled about 800 tankers, describing it as a milestone achievement for a new refinery-terminal combination.
Rana added that the offshore infrastructure leverages natural water depths of up to 40 metres for crude and 20 metres for refined products, eliminating the need for costly maintenance dredging. He further noted that the SPMs and telemetry systems were designed and manufactured by a Houston-based United States company, describing them as among the highest-rated and safest in global maritime energy trade.
