Africa’s largest single-train fuel processing plant, Dangote Refinery, is planning to construct a 1.6 million barrels storage facility in Namibia to supply refined fuel to the Southern African market, sources revealed to Reuters on Wednesday.
This plan marks another giant step by the refinery in recent months to dominate the fuel supply chain in Africa and beyond.
Namibian sources said the storage tanks would be used to supply gasoline and diesel to Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, with the 650,000 b/d refinery also considering extending supplies to the southern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
With most of these countries being landlocked, the move could potentially reshape fuel trade flows in the region and make refined petroleum products more accessible to Southern African nations.
The cost of the planned project is not immediately clear, as efforts to reach a Dangote spokesperson for comment on the matter did not yield success.
However, another source from the refinery said construction of the storage facility would begin soon in the port city of Walvis Bay, with confirmation from a Namibia Ports Authority official.
Dangote refinery intensifies fuel supply push
Since it fired the first steam in 2024, the $20 billion refinery owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has been ramping up production and increasingly meeting a significant share of Nigeria’s fuel demands.
At full capacity, the plant can produce enough fuel to meet demand in Nigeria, with a potential surplus for export.
In March 2025, government data shows the refinery accounted for 41% of Nigeria’s total fuel needs. It is already planning a major “shakedown” to carve out more market share in the country’s downstream oil sector.
Besides Nigeria, the plant is also entering new markets across Africa and beyond.
Refined petroleum products from the plant have so far reached several African countries, including Ghana, Cameroon, Angola, and South Africa, reducing dependence on European imports.
In June 2025, the mega refinery began exporting petrol to Asia, having previously supplied jet fuel to the U.S. and the Middle East.
Moreover, the Namibian development follows a recent visit by billionaire owner Aliko Dangote to the country last month to explore new opportunities in the country’s phosphate and energy sectors.
“Namibia is a country with the right environment and resources for industrial development. We’re actively looking at opportunities in oil, gas, and phosphate to support our expansion across Africa,” Dangote said during the visit.
