Dangote acquires Shell’s gas processing company in Netherlands

Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), owned by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has completed the acquisition of Twister B.V., a gas processing company headquartered in the Netherlands.

Earlier, Dangote had suggested the sale of Nigeria Liqufied Natural Gas (NLNG), to boost Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves, with many criticising the billionaire as seeking to buy the gas processing company.

But he later cleared the air, saying that even if the federal government was willing to sell on credit, he was uninterested in buying.

Less than a month on, he has acquired the Twister B.V.,which is credited to deliver “reliable, high-yield and robust solutions in natural gas processing and separation to the upstream and midstream oil and gas sectors”.

Twister B.V. used to be owned by Shell Technology Ventures Fund 1, before its acquisition by Dangote together with its partner First E&P.

According to Dangote Group, Twister gas plants are typically cheaper to build and operate compared to alternative technologies, and also deliver better performance levels.

The company is said to have customers in Nigeria, Malaysia, and South America.

The acquisition complements Dangote’s portfolio of investments in the upstream, midstream, and downstream segments of the oil and gas sector.

The company is expected to help design and build the gas plants, which would be critical in processing gas from oil fields for transportation via Dangote’s planned sub-sea pipeline (EWOGGS) for ultimate consumption by various industries and power plants.

“This was an important acquisition for us. Twister’s cutting edge gas processing technology is fundamental to delivering our strategy to unlock about 3 bcfd of gas in order to meet Nigeria’s gas needs,” Dangote said.

John Young, Twister’s CEO, said: “We are delighted in the confidence DIL and First E&P have shown in Twister to be their core provider of gas separation solutions.

“After a very thorough, due diligence, our technology has been recognised as a key enabler to reduce gas project costs, which is crucial in this current environment. We are excited to be part of the Dangote family of companies.”

Dangote Industries Limited is reported to have the capacity of creating a minimum of 235,000 new jobs, both direct and indirect jobs, as it becomes operational in the first quarter of 2019.

Dangote revealed recently that the projects would cost a minimum of $17 billion.

He said the $12 billion refinery would have a capacity of 650,000 barrels a day, adding that there would be market for the refined products because even in Africa, only three countries have effective functioning refinery with others importing from abroad.

Dangote named the countries with refinery as Egypt, South Africa and Cote d’Ivoire, saying: “Our refinery will be ready in the first quarter of 2019. Mechanical completion will be end of 2018 but we will start producing in 2019.”

When the projects fully take off in 2019, it would help the country save $5 billion spent on the importation of oil into the country, Dangote said

The refinery, petrochemicals and fertilizer in one spot, according to him, is the single largest stream in the world.

“This site is the biggest site in the world; the refinery is the biggest single refinery in the world, the petrochemicals are 13 times bigger than Eleme Petrochemicals while the fertilizer plant will be 10 times bigger than former National Fertilizer Company.”

He explained that the project with the $2 billion fertilizer unit was the funded through loans, export credit agencies and his company’s equity.