Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, says his organization is getting closer to breaking ground on the planned oil refinery in Kenya, indicating that the long-awaited project might soon move from planning to building.
Dangote’s $16 billion Kenya refinery could break ground sooner than expected
- Aliko Dangote confirmed that groundbreaking for the planned oil refinery in Kenya may happen as early as October, with advanced negotiations ongoing.
- The refinery will be located near Lamu on Kenya’s coast and is planned to have a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day.
- Initial locations for the refinery included Tanga in Tanzania and Mombasa, Kenya, but Lamu was ultimately chosen due to its strategic position in the LAPSSET corridor.
- This refinery aims to reduce East Africa’s reliance on imported refined petroleum products and will take three to five years to construct.
In a recent BBC interview, Dangote stated that negotiations with the Kenyan government had advanced greatly, and that construction might begin as early as October.
“The plans have actually gone very far with Kenya,” Dangote said when asked about the progress of the project.
He added that the company was targeting an October groundbreaking, after which construction would begin.
“We’ve gone very far, and I think by October we would be doing groundbreaking; once we break ground, we would start the construction,” he stated during the interview.
The proposed refinery, which is slated to be built near Lamu on Kenya’s northern coast, will have a processing capacity of 700,000 barrels per day.
The planned refinery has evolved numerous times since plans for a regional East African refinery gained traction earlier this year.
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were reviewing the potential of building a regional refinery
At first, Tanga in Tanzania was thought to be the ideal site, and Dangote said he would lead the initiative if partner nations offered the necessary backing.
Kenya, however, had become Dangote’s top choice by May.
At first, Mombasa was selected because of its deepwater port and easy access to a sizable regional market.
However, Edwin Devakumar, a Dangote Group official, disclosed weeks later that Lamu had become the preferred location for the project.
L-R: Africa’s richest man and founder of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote and President William Ruto of Kenya. [X, formerly Twitter/William Ruto]L-R: Africa’s richest man and founder of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote and President William Ruto of Kenya. [X, formerly Twitter/William Ruto]BI Africa
ADVERTISEMENT
The Lamu site was selected because of the fact that it can provide the refinery with access to the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor, a significant infrastructure project intended to link landlocked markets throughout East Africa with Kenya’s northern shore.
The construction of the refinery, which is expected to take three to five years, would provide Kenya and its neighbors with petroleum products, thereby lowering the region’s reliance on imported refined fuel.
Following the establishment of the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery in Lagos as an important project would greatly increase Dangote’s dominance in Africa’s downstream petroleum business
Assuming the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria grows to its intended 1.4 million barrels per day, the Lamu Refinery would become Africa’s second-largest refinery by nameplate capacity behind its Lagos counterpart if it achieves its anticipated 700,000 barrels per day capacity.
