- Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, plans to quadruple the supply of gas to Nigeria by building pipelines that may be backed by Carlyle Group LP and Blackstone Group LP, the world’s two biggest private-equity firms.
- Dangote, who has a net worth of $15 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, will invest $2.2 billion to $2.5 billion in two sub-sea 550-kilometer (341-mile) pipelines running from Nigeria’s oil and gas-producing Niger River delta region to the commercial hub of Lagos, Dangote, 58, said in an interview on April 25.
- The pipes will increase the amount of gas available in Africa’s biggest economy to 4 billion standard cubic feet per day from 1 billion, he said.
- While Nigeria has gas reserves of about 180 trillion cubic feet, more than any other African country, most of what’s produced is flared or exported because of a lack of infrastructure to transport it to local companies and households.
- Boosting domestic supply will help increase electricity generation in a country where power cuts are common and about 70 percent of electricity plants are fueled by gas, according to Dangote. “Having an additional 3 billion scf will sort out all the gas issues we have today in Nigeria,” he said in the lounge of his house in the Victoria Island district of Lagos, overlooking a half moon-shaped swimming pool. “It’s badly needed.”
- Dangote, who has interests ranging from cement to sugar and oil refineries, plans to start laying the pipelines before the end of the year, he said. The first one should be ready by mid-2017.
- Source Bloomberg
