For decades, Africa’s place in the global oil economy was not merely subordinate; it was designed to be so. Crude flowed out. Refined fuel flowed back in. Value accumulated elsewhere. This was not an unfortunate equilibrium but a system built with precision: refining infrastructure in Europe, currencies of trade external, shipping, and pricing settled far beyond African control. To call this a market outcome is to misunderstand it. It was architecture. What the Dangote Refinery represents is a d
The Dangote Refinery and the End of Africa’s Engineered Dependency
For decades, Africa’s place in the global oil economy was not merely subordinate; it was designed to be so. Crude flowed out. Refined fuel flowed back in. Value accumulated elsewhere. This was not an