Dangote's Nigeria oil refinery loan has 7-year tenor: source

LAGOS (Reuters) - A $3.3 billion syndicated loan Nigeria's Dangote Industries clinched this week to build a 400,000-barrel per day oil refinery and petrochemical plant has a 7-year tenor or maturity, a banking source involved in the deal said. Dangote Industries will have to start repayments after three years, the source said. The loan was signed off on Wednesday but the tenor was not disclosed. Standard Chartered and Nigeria's Guaranty Trust Bank led the loan deal, which also involved two South African and eight Nigerian banks. A spokesman for Dangote Group, the umbrella company of Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote, told Reuters on Friday the loan was "medium term" without giving further details. Dangote Group will put $3 billion of its own equity into the project, it said this week, down from a previously planned $3.5 billion. It is seeking a further $2.25 billion from development funds for the $9 billion plant project, which will also produce fertilisers. Nigeria imports 80 percent of its fuel needs and the lack of refining capacity is a major brake on Africa's second biggest economy. A boost to its refining capacity would be a blow to European refiners and oil traders, which make huge profits bringing gasoline into the country. The company expects the refinery to be completed around 2016.