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The Story Of MRS Boss & DANGOTE Refinery CEO
Only a few people know that Aliko Dangote and Sayyu Dantata are blood brothers, and not many people know that Sayyu Dantata is the founder of MRS Oil Nigeria Plc. Sayyu Dantata and Aliko Dangote are half-brothers, sharing the same mother, Mariya Sanusi Dantata, while Dangote is Africa’s richest person, operating the Dangote Group. Dantata and Dangote are both grandsons of Alhassan Dantata, who was once the richest man in West Africa, representing a multi-generational business dynasty. While they operate separate companies, Sayyu Dantata’s MRS is a major partner in distributing products from the Dangote Refinery. The mechanical engineer ventured into the oil and gas industry in 1993 and founded MRS Group in 1995. Before his exit as Chairman of MRS, he succeeded in building an integrated group of companies comprising Ovlas Trading & Supply in Geneva, Corlay Global SA, Koggi Shipping in Ghana, MRS Oil & Gas, and MRS Investments in Nigeria.
Dantata’s entry into the petroleum industry occurred in response to the persistent supply gap in petroleum products in Nigeria. The country continually faced fuel shortages as local refining capacity dwindled and dependence on imported products increased. Dantata seized the opportunity presented by the situation to launch MRS Oil. The company’s initial business involved purchasing diesel from the Kaduna Refinery, Unipetrol, and African Petroleum for supplies. Through various challenges, the company established itself in the market.
In the over 17 years of his career in the oil and gas industry, he has elevated MRS Oil to the status of an African conglomerate, focusing on diverse key activities in oil trading, shipping, storage, distribution, and retailing. The company is a fully integrated and efficient downstream player with leading positions in the Nigerian petroleum industry. It has one of the largest retail outlets among the major petroleum marketers.
A significant strategic step in the growth of the company occurred in 2009. In that year, MRS completed the acquisition of Chevron’s downstream assets in Nigeria. The deal provided a strong foundation with a brand that had dominated the Nigerian market for over 50 years. The acquisition also brought valuable human capital, with whom Dantata proceeded to chart the course for the future of MRS Oil Nigeria.
The company is fast growing into a prominent energy group in sub-Saharan Africa.It is one of the largest and marketer of refined petroleum products, including gasoline, marine and aviation fuels in the downstream industry. It markets premium fuels under the MRS brand across its 416 retail service stations in Nigeria. MRS also offers a wide range of lubricants from its proprietary blending facilities.
The company has invested substantially in downstream facilities that enable it serve its large market share. These include a 38,513 Barrels Base Oil storage facility, alube blending plant with the capacity to produce 186,000 barrels per year and a 22,500 barrels per year grease plant.
It also has a 2 million barrels per year fuel terminal, a 5,100 barrels of additive storage facility, a modern Avjet facilities in Lagos and Abuja.
The development of these facilities is aimed at unlocking supply and distribution constraints
and optimizing retail network and specialty businesses and improving product availability.
Dantata has well positioned MRS Group to capture the entire value chain in oil trading, shipping, storage, distribution and retailing. Its strong foothold in the downstream business extends far beyond Nigeria to cover Cameroon, Benin, Togo and Cote D’Ivoire.
The MRS Holding Company operates through several subsidiary companies, which include MRS Oil & Gas Company Ltd. The company operates a 107 million-litre capacity terminal with a jetty in Lagos, a truck staging area for over 1,000 trucks at Isolo and 15 loading arms gantry with a capacity of 15 million litres per day.
Its Benin Based subsidiary CorlayBanin SA, operates retail petrol stations and a modern avjet facility in the country. The Camaroun-based subsidiary Corlay Cameroun SA runs a large network of retail service stations, partly owns a lube plant and operate a waterfront marine terminal among other operations outside the oil and gas sector.
The Togo-based subsidiary runs retail service stations as well as a modern avjet facility. Another subsidiary, Petrowest operates throughout Africa, Europe and North/South America. It manages overseastrading and products supply activities. It is also a major exporter of Nigerian Naphtha, fuel oil, crude oil as well as a major importer of petroleum products into the Nigerian market.
