Nigeria’s Dangote taps Honeywell to expand plastics and detergent petrochems

Nigeria’s Dangote oil refinery has reached a deal with Honeywell, to use the U.S. industrial group’s technology to build up production of petrochemicals for plastics ‌and detergents, the companies said, expanding the $20 billion complex’s footprint beyond fuels and making Nigeria less dependent on imports.

The move is part of Dangote’s wider plan to build an integrated petrochemicals business around Africa’s largest refinery, producing industrial and consumer inputs locally while positioning Nigeria as a regional manufacturing hub.

Dangote said on Monday it will use Honeywell UOP’s Oleflex technology to produce an additional 750,000 metric tons a year of propylene at its Lekki refinery, supporting plastics used in packaging, consumer goods and industrial applications.

The refinery will also deploy Honeywell technologies to produce 400,000 tons a year of linear alkylbenzene (LAB), a key ingredient in detergents and cleaning ‌products. Once fully operational, Dangote says its LAB plant is expected to rank among the world’s largest.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Dangote’s $2 billion petrochemical plant at the Lekki complex near Lagos, situated close to the main refinery and with a 830,000 metric tonne capacity, also began producing polypropylene in March 2025, in 25kg bags for the local market.

Dangote and Honeywell have worked together for years on the main refinery, which currently has capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. Using Honeywell technology, Dangote plans to lift capacity to 1.4 million bpd by 2028, a move that Dangote says would make it the world’s biggest refinery by throughput.