Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery has taken another major step in its expansion journey after securing a wide-ranging agreement with Honeywell to support its plan to boost output to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2028, Reuters has reported.
The move is being read across the energy industry as the strongest indication yet that the Lagos-based complex is pushing ahead with its ambition to become the world’s largest petroleum refinery.
The collaboration gives Dangote access to Honeywell’s catalysts, process technology, and specialized equipment that will allow the refinery to handle a broader slate of crude grades. That flexibility is crucial for the planned second single-train unit, which will sit alongside the refinery’s existing 650,000-barrel-per-day line—the largest single-train refining unit ever built.
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The partnership also covers petrochemicals, with the refinery set to expand its polypropylene output to 2.4 million metric tons per year. This will be achieved through Honeywell’s Oleflex technology, a globally used process for producing on-purpose propylene—an industrial material that powers everything from plastic containers to automotive components.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but a source familiar with the arrangement said the deal could exceed $250 million, noting that costs for such technical contracts typically rise with the scale and sophistication of the equipment involved.
Dangote’s decision to expand the refinery comes amid ongoing efforts to end Nigeria’s decades-long reliance on imported fuel. Despite being Africa’s top crude producer, the country has operated with non-functional state refineries, forcing it to depend almost entirely on foreign-refined fuel. This has led to chronic shortages, multi-billion-dollar subsidy troubles, and relentless pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
The $20 billion Dangote complex in Lekki was designed to break that cycle by meeting domestic demand and exporting the surplus. The refinery’s management has said the plant will eventually process nearly all of Nigeria’s current production volume once the expansion lifts capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day. That output would not only exceed the country’s local consumption needs but also position Nigeria as a major regional fuel supplier.
The latest deal comes at a sensitive moment for Honeywell, which is restructuring its business and preparing to carve out its aerospace unit. The company is seeking to stabilize earnings across its portfolio as it reshapes itself, and its work with Dangote adds a major long-term revenue stream at a time of internal repositioning.
The refinery’s path to full operations has included its own challenges, including regulatory delays and technical adjustments after construction. But the new Honeywell partnership signals that Dangote is accelerating rather than slowing, and is leaning on some of the world’s most established engineering and process-technology providers as it pushes toward its goal of becoming the most extensive refining operation on the planet.
This move, if successful, is expected to clear all doubt about the refinery’s capacity to meet domestic demand amid its push to expand to new markets. Although the chairman of the oil plant, Aliko Dangote, has repeatedly said that the refinery, at its current capacity, will meet domestic demand, critics have expressed doubt.
However, the refinery expansion is expected to open a fresh source of petrochemical exports—while giving Honeywell a strong foothold in one of Nigeria’s oil market.