Engineers India Ltd (EIL), the state-run engineering, procurement and consulting major specialising in hydrocarbons, has secured a multi-million-dollar project from Nigeria’s Dangote Group to help more than double its petroleum refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day and build a 12-million-tonne petrochemical complex, which will become the world’s largest urea facility.

The new MoU extends EIL’s earlier mandate, awarded in 2018 and completed in 2024, under which it engineered a 650,000 bpd refinery for the Lagos-based conglomerate. That contract was reported to be worth USD 139 million.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Vartika Shukla, EIL’s Chairman and Managing Director, said the petrochemicals contract is valued at USD 70 million and will expand the existing complex from 3 million tonnes to 12 million tonnes per annum. Commercial terms for the 1.2 million bpd additional refinery capacity are being finalised, but she confirmed revenues from the project “will run into hundreds of millions of dollars”.

Both the refinery expansion and petrochemical complex will be executed within three years. Shukla said the twin projects reaffirm confidence in EIL’s ability to deliver “projects of exceptional scale and complexity”, adding that EIL will bring its decades of multidisciplinary expertise to create “one of the world’s most advanced, integrated refinery, petrochemical and fertiliser complexes”.

She noted that the proposed expansion to 1.4 million bpd would make the Dangote plant the world’s largest private refinery at a single location, alongside the world’s largest fertiliser complex with a 12-million-tonne capacity.

EIL, which operates under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, has extensive experience across the project lifecycle in oil and gas, refining, petrochemicals, fertilisers, metallurgy, infrastructure and renewables.

The Dangote Group, one of West Africa’s most influential industrial conglomerates, operates across 17 African countries with interests in oil and gas, petrochemicals, fertilisers, cement, sugar and food. Its flagship 650,000 bpd Lekki refinery—engineered by EIL—is among the world’s largest single-train refineries and commands around 65 per cent of Nigeria’s domestic oil products market.

Founder Aliko Dangote said that doubling the refinery’s throughput will allow the company to control the entire retail petroleum market in Nigeria. The expansion includes a PDH unit that will increase polypropylene output from 830,000 tonnes to 2.4 million tonnes, supporting the group’s plan to become the world’s largest urea producer.

Dangote added that while the company currently sells urea to India indirectly through traders, it will pursue direct trade with Indian fertiliser companies once the expanded complex is operational.

Under the USD 70 million petrochemical contract, EIL will provide project management consultancy (PMC) and engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the expansion of the fertiliser complex in the Lekki Free Trade Zone. The project involves adding four new production trains, producing an additional 8 million tonnes of urea annually, significantly boosting capacity and technological sophistication.

Dangote said both the refinery and petrochemical expansion projects will be completed within three years, reinforcing Nigeria’s ambition to become a regional hub for refined petroleum products and petrochemicals.