The Dangote Group, which in itself runs a 650,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos, has in the space of two years become an industry leader in Africa’s overall fuel market.

As a result, a Sonara delegation led by the CEO of the group, El Hadj Bako Harouna, traveled to Lagos between January 20 and 23, 2026, to open discussions with the Dangote refinery management team.

Sonara revealed that discussions with the Dangote Refinery focused on potential financial and technical support as the Cameroonian refiner attempts to stabilize its business and resume refining, as seen on BusinessInCameroon.

Sonara also revealed that the engagement was designed to lay the groundwork for a long-term technical and economic cooperation that may improve Cameroon's fuel security, meet domestic demand, and the country's broader energy independence goals.

Fuel supply and finance alternatives are critical components of Sonara's rehabilitation strategy.

In the near future, the refinery hopes to negotiate fuel supply agreements with the Dangote refinery while also examining the potential of securing a loan from the Aliko Dangote-controlled business.

These negotiations are part of Sonara's "Parras 24" recovery strategy, which seeks to restore refining activities in 24 months for CFA291.9 billion ($524 million).

The first phase of the plan, set for 2026-2027, focuses on repairing infrastructure destroyed by the 2019 fire that prompted the refinery to shut down.

Sonara has stated, however, that any further investment by the Dangote Group would be contingent on progress in restructuring its debt, which is now valued at CFA479 billion and due primarily to banks and gasoline dealers.

This conversation is hardly the first of its kind in the broader West African region.

Dangote’s recent engagements in West Africa

This week alone, Godwin Kudzo Tameklo, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority, said Ghana’s domestic refining capacity remains limited, and as such, the country aims to import fuel from Dangote.

Ghana's only major domestic refinery, the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), with a projected capacity of 45,000 bpd, started operations in late 2025 after being mostly inactive since April 2021.

Following maintenance on its crude distillation unit, TOR is now processing about 28,000 barrels per day. Smaller private refineries in Ghana have limited capacity and cannot supply national demand alone.

Last year in October, Nigeria’s richest man and chairman of the Dangote Refinery, met with the President of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, in Dakar to discuss new investment opportunities that could

expand his business footprint in the West African nation.

The meeting, part of ongoing discussions, focused on potential projects across the energy, manufacturing, and fertilizer sectors in Senegal.

Meanwhile, in Côte d’Ivoire, Dangote Cement has set out to establish a 3 million tonnes-per-year grinding plant in the Attingué industrial zone near Abidjan.

The $200 million facility sits on over 60 hectares of land and features two 1.5 million-tonne production lines. (Business Insider Africa)

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