The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited has appointed David Bird, former head of Oman’s Duqm Refinery, as its new Chief Executive Officer.
He replaced Devakumar V. G. Edwin with effect from July 2025.
A report by S&P global on Friday confirmed that Bird now heads the refinery’s petroleum and petrochemicals division as part of move to overcome production challenges and advance its next wave of expansion.
Sources told Weekend Trust that the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote had earlier informed members of staff through an internal memo on July 29.
Mr Bird is described as a seasoned Oil & Gas Executive with 25 years of global experience spanning the entire value chain of the industry, from upstream and LNG to refining and integrated operations.
He spent 20 years with Shell, where he held strategic roles across the Netherlands, France, South Africa, Singapore, the USA, and Australia, contributing significantly to operational transformation and performance delivery.
He later joined Santos, one of the largest independent Oil & Gas operators in Australia and Southeast Asia, where he led Operations and Supply Chain functions across onshore, offshore, LNG, and refining.
Most recently, Mr. Bird served as CEO of OQ8, a major oil-refining joint venture between Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI), where he oversaw complex refinery operations and strategic growth initiatives.
Mr Bird holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College of London, and an MBA from Stanford University – Graduate School of Business, USA.
Dangote said with his deep technical expertise and global leadership experience, the new CEO “is well positioned to lead the Petroleum Refinery into its next phase of growth, operational excellence, and long-term value creation.”
The S&P Global stated that effective from July 2025, the former Shell head of operations at its Balau Pokom refinery stepped in as CEO of the Dangote Group’s fuels and petrochemicals business, which commissioned the world’s largest single-train refinery last year.
The report read, “Nigeria’s Dangote Group has appointed the former head of Oman’s Duqm refinery as CEO of its petroleum and petrochemicals business as it strives to overcome production challenges and advance its next wave of expansion.”
It, however, noted that the Dangote Group founder Aliko Dangote, will remain as chairman of the refining business and CEO of the Dangote conglomerate, which is also active in cement, fertilizers and sugar refining.
Speaking on his appointment, Bird said his focus would be to advance the group’s footprint beyond the Nigerian market and across the African continent.
responsible for ensuring maximum output and efficiency for the refinery, and aims to make the group a leader in the global market, a LinkedIn update noted.
The appointment comes after a string of unit upsets and “design issues” that have stalled the ramp-up process of the 650,000-b/d refinery, while its leadership has called out a hostile business environment for challenging its operations.