NIGERIAN businessman Aliko Dangote has more than doubled his net worth to $27.8 billion among the world’s wealthiest individuals.

The billionaire became wealthier on account of his long-awaited “monster” oil refinery project which has been up and running.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Dangote is now ranked in the 65th position.

Elon Musk leads the pack with a net worth of $242 billion. He is followed by Jeff Bezos with $210 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg takes the third position with $204 billion, Larry Ellison with $185 billion, and Bernard Arnault with $175 billion net worth come in the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Dangote, who maintained his top position as the Africa’s richest man, has reportedly said he would not wish the experience he has had with the refinery on his worst enemy.

“I didn’t know what we were building was a monster,” Dangote said during a recent visit to New York, Bloomberg reported.

“The pressure was coming from different directions, people confusing us, disturbing us every day with different media stories that it will never work,” the 67-year-old billionaire added.

The 650,000-capacity Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals, financed with $20 billion, is located in Nigeria’s commercial city, Lagos State.

The refinery has been described as the biggest single-train oil refinery in the world and one of the most complex, capable of processing most global crude types.

It is believed to have the potential to transform the Nigerian economy by making the country self-reliant on fuel.

By producing refined petroleum products domestically, the facility could eliminate the country’s dependence on fuel imports, a reliance that has hamstrung its economy despite Nigeria being Africa’s largest crude oil producer.

Since the refinery started running in January this year, Dangote has faced disagreements with the Nigerian government and state-owned oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

Notable issues were crude oil supply to the refinery, substandard products from the refinery, intention to monopolise the market, constraint to sell only to the NNPCL, reduction of government’s stake in the refinery, and a lot more.