dridowu:
*Africa's richest man piling in to oil and gas

* Billionaire targets 2019 for oil refinery launch

* Dangote plans London listing by end of 2017
#shaiii_Godovereverything!


LAGOS, June 24 (Reuters) - Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, plans to launch Nigeria's first private crude oil refinery by 2019 while almost doubling his cement production on the continent by adding plants in eight countries as he shrugs off a regional economic downturn.

Dangote told Reuters the $12 billion refinery would have a capacity of 650,000 barrels a day, cornering the market in Africa's most populous country, where fuel shortages are a perennial problem.

Until recently, Nigeria was Africa's biggest crude oil producer but it imports 80 percent of its fuel because poor maintenance means its four refineries never reach full output. Its current daily consumption is 260,000 barrels, according to the International Energy Agency.

A slump in commodity prices has hammered Nigeria's economy - along with many others on the continent - and raised the cost of borrowing but Dangote, whose business empire stretches from cement to flour and pasta, is pushing hard into oil and gas.

"It will be ready in the first quarter of 2019," the billionaire founder of Dangote Cement said of the refinery. "Mechanical completion will be end of 2018 but we will start producing in 2019."

Dangote said the plant, which will include a $2 billion fertilizer unit, was being funded through "loans, export credit agencies and our own equity".

Some $3.25 billion had come from local and foreign banks, while the central bank had also chipped in. The IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank, has lent $150 million.

Dangote also has plans for a gas pipeline through West Africa. Nigeria has the world's ninth largest proven gas reserves, at 187 trillion cubic feet (tcf), but loses half of it to flaring and re-injection.

Despite the new focus on oil and gas, the business magnate said he planned to build cement plants in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia by 2018. Another plant will open in Congo Republic by September, he added.

A cement plant in Ivory Coast would triple output to 3 million tonnes, up from an initial target of 1 million, he said, while two new plants in Nigeria would add 6 million tonnes annually.

"As at now, what we have in operation is almost about 45 million tonnes, so we have just another 40 million tonnes to go," he said, affirming an Africa-wide production target of 85 million tonnes a year by 2018.

FX CRISIS

The collapse in oil prices has hit Nigerian companies hard, with many unable to access dollars due to central bank foreign exchange restrictions imposed to prop up the naira.

The worst-affected have gone to the wall or shed large numbers of staff, but a study by Reuters of an 11-week period in March to May showed that Dangote firms managed to secure a healthy share of dollars at the cheap official rate.

Dangote said the $161 million bought during that period from the central bank merely reflected the size of his business and did not represent preferential treatment.

"We have been badly affected like any other company," he said, arguing that operational costs totalled $100 million each month due to recurring expenses such as the purchase of parts for cement production and running a fleet of 9,000 trucks.

"When you are talking about 20 billion dollars worth of projects, what is 161 million? One-hundred-and-sixty-one million dollars is my six weeks' need," he said.

Dangote's sugar refinery in Nigeria had reduced capacity by 15 percent as a result of the dollar crisis. "We ended up owing a lot of dollars," he said.

This week, the central bank removed the peg that has held the naira at the official rate of 197 for the last 16 months, leading to a 30 percent devaluation as the currency traded freely on the interbank market.

Dangote said the decline had pushed up costs.

"This devaluation alone, we have lost over 50 billion naira ($176 million)," he said.

"The gas, which is our main source of power, is priced in dollars. If there is 40 percent devaluation, your price will go up by 40 percent. Every single aspect of the production will go up by that percentage," he said.

Dangote also said he was eyeing a listing on the London stock exchange "within the next year or two". ($1 = 284.1500 naira) (Editing by Ulf Laessing and Ed Cropley)


http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKCN0ZA25J?feedType=RSS&feedName=investingNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FAFRICAbusinessNews+%28News+%2F+AFRICA+%2F+Business+News%29&=undefined&rpc=401&sp=true

joedams:
At the moment, even the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.

kalasiauwu:
whats the gain

kilode100:



They can us an ocean....

Sai Buhari!!!

AlphaGentleman:
Rich North. But they still cnt help their people,only wanting to steal more for themselves.

swtchicgurl:

If only we can make our bodies the temple of God...!

redcliff:
Boyz who can never think of their future..i hope he wont regret it when the rainy days come

temmypotter:
May the best man win

Scarpon:
with ur thread https://www.nairaland.com/2098172/chief-m.k.o-abiolas-daughter-hafsat we can see u are one of the thout

Revolution:
“Without security, there is no government. So it is not debatable, it is something we have to addressed and we are working towards that with vigour. But if I’m voted into power within the next four years, the issue of power will become a thing of the past. Four years is enough for anyone in power to make significant improvement and if I can’t improve on power within this period, it then means I cannot do anything even if I am there for the next four years.”

President Goodluck Jonathan, 31st January 2011.

januzaj:
PDP= the party where
*2000 lives=150 lives
*9>15
*200 students < twerking
*stealing is not corruption
* women are meant for stealing not cooking
* office of the president is under office of the first lady
* removing posters is punishable by beating to death
* $21b=#0
* students are meant to spend 7years for 5 years courses
* politicians steal billions of naira and they are rewarded for doing so
* #2000 will be deducted from your salary for chicken worth less than #800
* #4b is meant for food and transportation of a single office
* a person has 10 lives(shekau)
.
.
CHANGE IS INEVITABLE
.
SAIBUHARI2015

engrsyer:
lol.. At least draft is like a lesser chess game where sometimes u sacrifice some pawns to sack senior officers and also u sacrifice one piece in other to sack like two, three or four pieces and go to crown. Judging from your opinion dat he only knows how to play draft den i could say he have an idea of chess game even if not good.