The Initial Public Offer (IPO) of Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery, the largest on the continent, will open in the next 10 to 12 days, its owner, Aliko Dangote, said on Thursday.

“So our dream is that we want to make sure we double the capacity of the refinery … which will take us to 1.4 million barrels per day.

“The IPO will open in the next 10 to 12 days,” Dangote told investors and analysts in Botswana, while visiting the Southern African country, a Reuters report said.

The refinery, owned by Africa’s richest man, is expected to seek to raise about $5 billion in what could become the continent’s largest IPO.

Dangote does not disclose refinery margins, but the refining industry has benefited from stronger profits as turmoil in the Middle East boosted demand for alternative fuel supplies.

The 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery reached full nameplate capacity in February and has already tested output at 700,000 barrels per day, the Reuters report stated.

The businessman also said the secondary listing of Dangote Cement, another flagship company in his industrial empire, on the London Stock Exchange would most likely be in October, a move that could broaden its access to international investors and capital.

Dangote is also planning to build a new refinery on Kenya’s coast in partnership with East African governments. The project, which is expected to take up to three years to complete, would supply refined petroleum products to Kenya and neighbouring countries, helping reduce East Africa’s reliance on imported fuels.

It would mark Dangote Group’s biggest refining investment outside Nigeria. “We are launching it on September 30,” he told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Nigeria could double investment into its energy sector within five years after joining the International Energy Agency, (IEA) its chief, FatihBirol, said on Thursday, as nations seek partners they can “trust” after supply disruptions from the wars in Iran and Ukraine.

Speaking during a visit to Abuja, Birol told Reuters that Nigeria’s admission as an associate member of the Paris-based energy watchdog would help attract investment, deepen technical cooperation and give Africa’s largest oil producer a stronger voice in global energy policy discussions.

“My goal is, in a very short period of time, in five years, at least doubling the energy investments Nigeria is receiving today,” Birol said.

Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, needs substantial capital to unlock opportunities across oil, gas and renewable energy, particularly solar power, he said.

Birol said Nigeria’s resource base, together with shifting global energy trade patterns, could help attract capital from governments and private investors seeking reliable energy partners.

“The most scarce commodity is not oil, not gas, not uranium, not lithium. It is trust,” he said. “Countries are looking for partners they can rely on,” he added.

He described Nigeria as a credible energy supplier and said exports from the Dangote refinery, which processes about 700,000 barrels of crude a day, had helped ease fuel-supply pressures in Europe in recent months.

Nigeria aims to nearly double oil production to 3 million barrels per day by 2030 and is counting on energy sector reform, infrastructure upgrades and improved security to prevent oil theft to help attract foreign capital after years of underinvestment.

Nigeria became an associate member of the IEA in July after the agency’s member countries, including the United States, Germany, Italy and Japan, unanimously approved its application, Birol said. (AriseNews TV)