Dangote plans $3.5B pipeline across Southern Africa network

Aliko Dangote plans to construct a 2,650-kilometer petroleum pipeline budgeted at over $3.5 billion to supply Southern African nations, addressing chronic energy distribution bottlenecks across the region.

The project will extend across Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. The Nigerian industrialist revealed the infrastructure buildout during an interview with Bloomberg TV anchor Francine Lacqua following the public share offer launch for his group’s energy arm. The line forms the core of a broader 4,000-kilometer cross-border pipeline network designed to move refined fuels into landlocked economies across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Logistical supply constraints in interior markets currently leave consumers paying severe transportation surcharges. Retail gasoline prices in landlocked countries like Zimbabwe have reached nearly $6 per gallon, according to Dangote, driven by heavy overland trucking overheads and border clearance delays.

The conglomerate is also expanding infrastructure in East Africa. The group is launching a pipeline route connecting Djibouti to Ethiopia alongside strategic fuel storage tank farms, with project construction scheduled to begin within two months. A separate conduit will connect Lamu, Kenya, to inland markets in the Horn of Africa.

Capital deployment across the group’s industrial operations will total between $46 billion and $50 billion over the coming period. The capital allocation strategy prioritizes internal refining and pipeline transport to eliminate long-haul imports of processed petroleum products.

Financing for the group’s energy assets combines public offerings and private placements. The share sale for the refining division aims to attract 10 million individual African retail investors, following a private placement tranche that drew $3.7 billion in total demand. The company plans a primary listing on the Nigerian Exchange, followed by a dual listing in New York by 2030.