Nigeria's Dangote group starts test run of $2bn fertiliser plant

The plant to be the biggest in the world with capacity for 3 million tons of fertiliser a year

Nigerian businessman and Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote. AFP

Nigeria’s Dangote Group started a test run of a $2 billion (Dh7.34bn) fertiliser plant that will make Africa’s most populous country meet all its domestic demand.

This followed the completion of critical sections of the plant, including the central control room, the ammonia and urea bulk storage area and the cooling tower, the company said in an emailed statement.

“By the time our plant is fully commissioned, the country will become self sufficient in fertiliser production and even have the capacity to export the products to other African countries,” Devakumar Edwin, group executive director for strategy, portfolio development and projects at Dangote Industries, said in the statement.

The plant, constructed by Saipem of Italy and Tata Consulting Engineers of India, will be the biggest in the world with capacity for 3 million tonnes of fertilizer a year. It’s being powered with gas piped by the Nigerian Gas Company and Chevron Nigeria under an agreement to supply 70m cubic feet of gas daily.

The fertiliser facility is in the same location in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, where the Dangote Group, owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, is building a 650,000-barrels per day crude refinery, also reputed to be one of the world’s biggest on completion in 2021.