RAPID EXPANSION: Will Dangote brother’s MRS Oil leave Conoil in the dust?

With the 650,000-barrels-a-day Dangote refinery changing Nigeria’s fuel business, MRS Oil Nigeria – controlled by Sayyu Dantata, half-brother of Aliko Dangote – has sharpened its advantage and is on course to overtake Mike Adenuga’s Conoil.

The stakes have risen. Since petrol output began at the Dangote plant in September last year, subsidies have been removed, imports have fallen, and competition has intensified across the value chain.

Conoil, Nigeria’s oldest oil marketer, has long led MRS on sales and profit. That pecking order may shift this year as MRS’s expansion has accelerated alongside the refinery’s ramp-up.

Industry data seen by The Africa Report show MRS more than doubled its retail network to 465 stations last year, versus Conoil’s 265 outlets. Conoil said in its 2023 annual report that it had “about 400” stations nationwide and that its network “undisputedly ranks among the fastest-growing in the industry”.

Can Conoil stage a comeback?

Analysts in Lagos argue Conoil has become a shadow of its former self, despite valuable assets – including its 20-storey head office on Marina island, Lagos.

An industry veteran recalled that Conoil, originally owned by Shell, was taken over by the government, renamed National Oil and Chemical Marketing (Nolchem), and sold to Adenuga’s Conpetro in 2002. That lineage, he said, once conferred clear advantages, from one of the biggest LPG installations to airport storage facilities later handed to Nolchem under the national oil company’s management.

In Apapa – Lagos’s fuel-storage hub – Conoil operates tank farms with total capacity stated as 86.1m litres across petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and kerosene. Its owner, Adenuga, is Nigeria’s second-richest person after Dangote, with a net worth of $6.3bn as of 3 October, and is well-connected in Abuja, including with President Bola Tinubu.

To regain ground, Conoil said in July last year it had begun an “aggressive acquisition and expansion drive” to lift station numbers and was building additional depots and lube warehouses. Revenue rose 60.45% to ₦323.13bn last year, while profit fell 11% to ₦8.77bn. In the first half of 2025, after-tax profit dropped 89% year on year to ₦900.42m as sales fell 20% to ₦143.65bn.

The rise of MRS after years of losses

MRS Holdings, founded by Dantata, became a major downstream player 16 years ago by acquiring Chevron’s retail business, expanding into Cameroon, Benin, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire. Its subsidiary MRS Oil – established in 1969 as Texaco Nigeria and delisted on 25 July 2025 after 55 years on the exchange – has turned round in recent years.

The group cites depots with 25m litres of petrol capacity, two terminals able to load 17m litres a day, and a 150m-litre jetty, among other assets. The company returned to profit in 2021 after four straight loss-making years. Net income rose 60% to ₦6.49bn last year as revenue increased to ₦312.23bn from ₦182.31bn in 2023, helped by stronger sales across product lines.

“MRS leveraged strategic supply relationships, particularly with NNPC and Dangote Refinery, and optimised distribution to ensure availability and competitive pricing,” chief executive Patrice Alberti said in the 2024 annual report.

MRS was among the firms partnering with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company under the direct-sales direct-purchase scheme launched in 2019, swapping crude allocations for deliveries of petrol and other refined products to NNPC. Last year it became the first to strike a supply partnership with Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals to guarantee product for its stations.

Industry sources say MRS has taken share in recent months, overtaking Ardova, TotalEnergies and 11Plc to become second only to NNPC by outlets and volume. Alberti said the Dangote alliance and network growth have ensured “competitive pricing” and positioned MRS for sustained expansion.

One veteran marketer added: “MRS has increased from fewer than 200 stations to more than 800, because of its relationship with Dangote … NNPC is still number one, but MRS is challenging it – effectively acting as Dangote’s downstream arm. The trucks Dangote brought in are being run by MRS.”

On 15 September, Dangote Petroleum Refinery began distributing fuel directly to marketers and large buyers, saying it was rolling out a large fleet of CNG-powered trucks to strengthen logistics and cut costs across the distribution chain. (The Africa Report)