The Dangote Oil Refinery has officially started the operations of its polypropylene facility in Lagos, marking a major milestone in its long-anticipated commissioning process.
According to reports, the polypropylene facility will soon be unveiled, with production already underway.
The refinery’s polypropylene production, which began recently, is expected to disrupt the domestic market. S&P Global reported that this facility is one of the last key steps in the complex’s commissioning sequence, which began in January 2024. Polypropylene, a key component used in plastic packaging and textiles, is being supplied in 25kg bags and is already making a significant impact on the market.
A trade source revealed that Dangote had begun preemptively offering polypropylene supplies as early as February, well before the official start of production. The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has previously expressed optimism that the facility will cover approximately 250,000 metric tonnes per year of domestic polypropylene demand.
Once fully operational, the Dangote polypropylene facility is poised to become Africa’s largest production site, with two units capable of producing 500,000 metric tonnes per year and 330,000 metric tonnes per year, respectively. Industry experts have raised concerns that this new capacity could quickly capture market share in the polypropylene homopolymer market, traditionally dominated by Indorama Eleme’s Port Harcourt refinery and imports from the Middle East.
The Dangote complex has already demonstrated its ability to undercut local producers in the oil market, significantly impacting the gasoline retail market by triggering steep discounts. The refinery has also disrupted traditional trade routes for oil products, typically flowing from Europe to West Africa, as it continues to serve a growing share of the domestic market. This has happened despite outages affecting the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPCL) Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
As of February, the Dangote refinery was expected to reach its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by March, although this is contingent on crude oil availability. There is currently no updated timeline for the full utilization of the petrochemical site.
In addition to its oil refining operations, Dangote’s $2 billion petrochemical plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, is designed to produce 77 high-performance grades of polypropylene. With a projected annual turnover of $1.2 billion, the facility is set to meet the demands of the growing plastic processing industry in Africa and globally.
Devakumar Edwin, Dangote Industries’ Group Executive Director for Strategy, Capital Projects, and Portfolio Development, provided further insight into the project’s impact. He highlighted that the Dangote Petrochemical plant would drive significant investment in the downstream industries, generating employment, increasing tax revenues, reducing foreign exchange outflow, and boosting the country’s GDP.
“We produce 77 types of polypropylene, which can be used for various applications. Our plant currently has the capacity to produce about 900,000 tonnes of polypropylene annually, making it the largest petrochemical facility in Africa,” Edwin said. “The availability of raw materials locally will help manufacturers who currently rely on imports, and this will encourage investment in the economy.”
Polypropylene, a thermoplastic polymer derived from petroleum-based propylene gas, is used in a wide array of products, including plastic packaging, machinery components, textiles, piping systems, and medical devices.
The Dangote Petrochemical plant is expected to be a game-changer for Nigeria’s petrochemical industry, reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign imports and creating a substantial impact on its economy.
