Dangote Refinery: Seun Kuti’s Claim Debunked
A recent video posted by popular Afrobeats singer Seun Kuti on Instagram has sparked controversy over the Dangote Refinery, a massive petroleum project in Nigeria. Kuti claimed that the Federal Government spent $2 billion to purchase a 20% stake in the refinery, while the same amount was used to buy the entire Sinclair Refinery in America. He noted that both refineries have the same size. However, an investigation has revealed that the claim is false.
According to the official website of Dangote Group, the Dangote Refinery is the world’s biggest single-train facility, capable of handling 3 billion Standard Cubic Foot of gas per day. The refinery, built by Aliko Dangote, was launched on May 22, 2023, and commenced operation on January 12, 2024, after taking delivery of six million barrels of crude oil. In contrast, the Sinclair Oil Company operates two refineries in Wyoming, USA, with a combined capacity of 110,000 barrels per day.
The Dangote Refinery is a 650,000 barrels per day integrated project, situated in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos. It has a storage capacity of 4.78 billion liters for refined petroleum products and is designed to produce up to 50 million liters of gasoline and 15 million liters of diesel per day. The Sinclair Oil Company, on the other hand, has 1,500 branded gasoline stations across 29 states in the US and operates a network of crude oil and finished-product pipelines and terminals in the Rocky Mountain and midcontinent regions.
In August 2021, a former Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, announced that the Federal Executive Council authorized the acquisition of a 20% stake in Dangote Refinery for $2.76 billion. However, recently, Dangote revealed that the government’s stake in the refinery has reduced to 7.2% from the initial figure.
A Professor of Energy with specialization in Oil, Natural Gas, Electricity, and Energy Transitions at the University of Lagos, Dayo Ayoade, debunked Kuti’s claim, stating that the two refineries are not comparable due to significant differences in their capacities and operational timelines. “How can Sinclair Oil Refinery be of the same level as Dangote Refinery of 650,000 bpd? Seun is not an expert on energy. He is a musician and social activist. So, you can’t take him seriously on energy issues. Clearly, he is not correct on the claim because the Dangote refinery has just been built. It is not a refinery that has been on ground for years like Sinclair, which is an old refinery,” Ayoade said.
The claim by Seun Kuti has been proven false, and the truth is that the Dangote Refinery is a massive project with a significant capacity and infrastructure, unlike the Sinclair Refinery in America.
