Dangote Refinery to produce detergent raw material locally, reducing imports and foreign exchange demand for manufacturers
Dangote Refinery has announced plans to begin local production of surfactants used in detergent manufacturing, a move aimed at reducing import dependence and supporting Nigeria’s manufacturing sector.
The Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Refinery, David Bird, disclosed the plan on Wednesday during a news conference, according to a statement from the event.
David Bird said the refinery had largely concluded commercial discussions to install a linear alkyl benzene plant, which would produce surfactants, a key raw material used in detergents for household cleaning, laundry and personal hygiene.
He explained that local production of surfactants would reduce pressure on foreign exchange, lower input costs for manufacturers and potentially lead to more affordable detergent products for consumers.
“I am very pleased today to announce that we have been in deep discussions with a licenser and are just about to finalise the commercial terms for installing a linear alkyl benzene plant,” David Bird said.
He described surfactants as the active ingredient responsible for the foaming action in detergents and noted that the refinery evaluates investments based on population-driven demand.
David Bird said fuels, lubricants and detergents are essential products that should not be treated as luxury items, given Nigeria’s large population and that of the wider West African region.
According to him, the refinery is pursuing an import substitution strategy, noting that detergents consumed across West Africa currently rely entirely on imported surfactants.
“As we speak, 100 per cent of the detergents used in West Africa are imported, so we will be building an LAB plant in order to make the surfactant,” he said.
He added that the project would strengthen local detergent manufacturing and represents another reinvestment focused on improving economic sustainability and self-sufficiency in Nigeria and the sub-region.
The announcement comes as manufacturers continue to grapple with rising production costs driven by foreign exchange volatility and heavy reliance on imported inputs.
Nigeria’s leading energy firm Oando plans to raise up to $750 million this year for a drilling campaign that could boost output by 300%, tapping improved investor appetite for West African producers amid turmoil linked to the Iran war, the Group Chief Executive of the oil firm, Jubril Adewale Tinubu, CON, told Reuters recently in an interview.
The oil and gas company is among a handful of local companies that have snapped up assets from oil majors in the past decade as they exit Nigerian onshore. This year, surging energy prices should open more funding sources for producers in the region, Tinubu said.
We are pushing very, very hard towards getting the financing that we need to do an extensive drilling campaign,” Tinubu told Reuters.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer with crude and condensate output of around 1.6 million barrels a day.
Oando, whose production averaged just over 32,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in fiscal 2025, aims to drill as many as 100 wells to boost output, particularly from assets purchased from Western majors ConocoPhillips and Eni.
While in the past the company had struggled with securing cash for drilling due to investor worries that Africa was an “unsafe environment”, the Iran war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have shifted that view, Tinubu said.
“Africa is very, very peaceful compared to these regions,” he said.
Already, Tinubu said there was a shift in demand for Nigeria’s crude, with more cargoes sailing to Asia to replace Gulf oil trapped due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
FUNDING SQUEEZE FROM EUROPE
Oando has raised $3 billion-$4 billion in the past decade, much of it from European banks, the GCE said, the bulk of which went toward acquisitions.
European banks had now almost completely withdrawn from African hydrocarbons due to climate concerns, he said, pushing Oando to funders including the African Export-Import Bank and the African Finance Corporation, and to oil trading houses including Vitol, Trafigura, Glencore and Mercuria.
However, Africa needed more “substantial long-term funding”, he added.
More Gulf banks were interested in hydrocarbon projects in Africa and more parties were joining their syndications, while private equity funds and hedge funds were also more active in funding African energy, he said.
Oando recently expanded into Angola, and Tinubu said they are exploring opportunities in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Africa should pool capital available at home, via pension funds and other sources, to fund large-scale capital projects, he added.
Geopolitical turmoil will have “long-reaching strategic implications for global energy security”, he said, and keep focus on West Africa’s reserves.
“Even if the ceasefire lasts, which, hopefully it will, it wouldn’t change the fact that consistently, you’re going to find disruptions,” he said.
GASOLINE EXPORTS, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Nigeria, Tinubu said, is well placed to draw funding after a landmark 2021 overhaul of its hydrocarbon law and reforms by current President Bola Tinubu, his uncle, to currency and costly petrol subsidies.
The new 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote Oil Refinery on the outskirts of Lagos, Tinubu said, highlighted the value of Nigeria’s resources.
Tinubu, whose company was once among the nation’s largest fuel importers, said imports were now only needed to test for pricing or during refinery maintenance.
Longer term, Tinubu hopes to exploit some of Oando’s own gas production for petrochemicals and fertilizers to further boost the value added to Nigerian resources.
The company was working to “streamline” financials to avoid further delays in filing audited statements with the Nigerian Exchange after deadline extension in recent years.
In August, Oando’s board signed off on a proposal to launch a multi-instrument issuance programme of up to $1.5 billion.
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