Dangote Group, the conglomerate owned by Africa’s richest man, signed a gas supply deal with Nigeria’s state-owned oil company, tapping into the country’s plan to expand gas production as a driver of economic growth.
The deal involves supply agreements to Dangote’s refinery, fertilizer, and cement subsidiaries, and comes as the group plans to double the refinery’s 650,000 barrels-per-day capacity by this year. National oil company NNPC launched a gas master plan last week with targets that include a 50% increase in gas output to 12 billion cubic feet per day by 2030, and hopes to attract more investors: The master plan is expected to spur more than $60 billion in oil and gas investments by 2030, officials said.
Nigeria’s gas reserves of more than 200 trillion cubic feet are among the largest in the world and the biggest in Africa. But they remain underdeveloped due to the decades-long reliance on oil exploration.