Dangote Refinery To Double Workforce As Capacity Expansion To 1.4mbpd Begins

Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE planned to double its workforce as it pushes to double its processing capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029.

The vice president, Oil & Gas and Fertiliser at Dangote Industries Limited, Edwin Devakumar, disclosed this at the refinery in Lagos on Friday, according to Premium Times.

“Well, within the refinery, the workforce will practically become double, except in the water treatment section, because there we already have substantial capacity,” Devakumar said.

He noted that labour expansion in the transport segment might not be significant unless local consumption of petrol and diesel increases, which is not expected in the short term.

The refinery is currently raising N2.2 trillion ($1.6 billion) in equity capital from retail investors to finance the major expansion from 700,000 bpd to 1.4 million bpd.

The pan-African share sale, described by the president/CEO of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote as “the people’s IPO”, opened on Monday with massive subscription traffic that triggered downtime on some trading platforms.

Fintech channels Bamboo and Cowrywise, approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission to facilitate the offer, reported outages, with Bamboo recording a 1,000-fold jump in traffic compared to regular days.

The offer has a minimum subscription of 10 units, equivalent to N5,250, and is targeting traders, cooks, drivers and managers across the continent. It includes a green shoe option to allot 30 percent of excess shares if oversubscribed.

Devakumar said the second phase will cost less than the $20 billion first phase because infrastructure such as a granite quarry and port facility already exists, while engineering and design costs will be cut as the new plant is a replica.

The refinery also plans to increase fertiliser output from three million tons to 12 million tons annually and is pursuing listings in Lagos, Johannesburg, Nairobi, and later the US.

According to its prospectus, the company posted $1.8 billion after-tax profit in H1 2026 on $13 billion revenue.