Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is seeking billions in loans to boost crude supply for his newly built refinery in Lagos, according to the Financial Times.

The newspaper disclosed this in a report on Sunday, noting that Dangote was in talks with commercial lenders, development banks, oil traders, and other industry participants to raise funds.

Quoting sources familiar with the development, the publication stressed that the funds aim to boost the refinery’s capacity of 650,000 barrels per day for a project.

“It would cost about $2 billion every 90 days to secure a minimum supply of 300,000 barrels per day,” a source told FT.

The Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African development lender based in Nigeria that is already an investor in the project, is one of the institutions involved in the talks to raise money.

The development comes amid the recent kickoff of the Naira-for-crude deal between Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian government.

The deal is expected to see the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited supply 365,000 barrels per day of crude to Dangote Refinery.

However, an economist, Kelvin Emmanuel, has stated that the Nigerian government has not effectively implemented the Naira-for-crude deal with Dangote Refinery.

As of now, Dangote Refinery has not officially commented on the development.

DAILY POST reports that Dangote Refinery and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) recently signed an agreement on lifting 60 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) from the refinery.

Dangote targets billions in loans to boost crude supply – Report