The Dangote Group has proposed building a petroleum products storage terminal in Cameroon to strengthen the regional distribution network of its 650,000-barrel-per-day Lekki refinery and expand its footprint in Central Africa.

The proposal was presented to Cameroon’s Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, by the Group’s Vice President for Oil, Gas and Fertiliser, Devakumar Edwin. According to details shared by local outlet Business in Cameroon, the facility would help build Cameroon’s strategic petroleum reserves, improve fuel supply security, and could include a pipeline network to cut logistics costs and reduce the environmental impact of road haulage. The project remains at the discussion stage, with no agreement announced and no location, capacity, investment value or timeline yet disclosed.

If realised, the terminal would give Dangote’s Lekki refinery a major new export outlet and position the company to serve not just Cameroon but landlocked neighbours such as Chad and the Central African Republic, which rely heavily on Cameroonian ports for fuel imports. The proposal comes as Cameroon’s National Petroleum Storage Company develops a 230,000-cubic-metre products terminal at Kribi alongside a separate CSTAR Tank Farm project, together expected to add at least 480,000 cubic metres of liquid fuel storage capacity to the country’s downstream sector — infrastructure Dangote’s plan could either complement or compete with for port access, financing and product volumes.

Source: punchng.com