Why we launched $2.5b Namibia fuel storage project, by Dangote

Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has explained the rationale behind the $2.5 billion fuel storage and regional pipeline project in Namibia’s Walvis Bay.

The project, which was launched on Wednesday, according to Dangote is to reshape the fuel supply architecture in Southern Africa.

At a launch ceremony attended by Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Dangote said the pipeline project, once complete, would strengthen the energy independence of six African countries and help establish Walvis Bay as a fuel logistics hub.

“For Namibia it is expected to moderate logistical vulnerabilities, high shipping costs and severe energy insecurity while promoting infrastructure warehousing,” he said.

The tank farm will have storage capacity of approximately 600 million litres, or some 4 million barrels, with 360 million litres of diesel and the remainder petrol.

Dangote told reporters the project would be completed between 18 and 20 months.

It will have eight times the capacity of Namibia’s 75 million-litre National Oil Storage Facility, operated by Namibia’s national oil company Namcor.

The tank terminal has scope for a 1,700 km pipeline connecting the hinterland countries of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and potentially the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dangote said.

The project is one of a slew of energy ventures championed by Dangote in the continent heavily reliant on imported fuels and hard-hit by the Iran war.

Dangote already operates Africa’s biggest refinery in Nigeria, a 700,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) plant, which he is expanding, with plans to build another 700, 000 bpd refinery in Kenya on the opposite side of the continent.