Kenyan President William Ruto is set to visit the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, on Friday. The visit was confirmed by Dangote Group, which said its President, Aliko Dangote, would host the Kenyan leader at the Lagos refinery. This visit comes ahead of the groundbreaking of the proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day East Africa Oil Refinery in Lamu, Kenya, scheduled for Wednesday, September 30.
The planned Lamu refinery is estimated at $17bn and is being positioned as a major addition to East Africa’s refining and industrial infrastructure. The project is expected to process up to 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day and serve Kenya and other markets across East and Central Africa. The Kenyan government expects the project to strengthen domestic and regional energy security, reduce reliance on imported refined petroleum products, and support wider industrial activity around Lamu.
Ruto’s visit comes days after he met Dangote and Samaila Zubairu, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Finance Corporation, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The discussions focused on financing and final preparations for the Lamu project, according to the Kenyan president. Ruto said, “We are ready to break ground on the East Africa refinery in Lamu, a transformative project that will enhance the region’s energy security, deepen local value addition, create jobs and advance our industrialisation agenda”.
The proposed refinery is expected to support Kenya’s emerging crude oil industry, with President Ruto discussing plans for a crude oil pipeline linking oil production in Turkana to Lamu. The project has attracted financing and technical partners, with Engineers India Limited recently securing a contract worth more than $450m to provide project management and engineering, procurement and construction management services for the refinery and petrochemical complex.
The Lamu project marks a major expansion of Dangote’s refining interests beyond Nigeria. The group is targeting combined refining capacity of about 2.1 million barrels per day through the proposed Kenyan refinery and the planned expansion of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos from its current 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day. Dangote has previously said the Kenyan refinery could take about three years to complete.
For Dangote, the Lamu development extends the group’s refining strategy from Nigeria into a wider African market, while for Kenya, the project is intended to establish the country as a regional petroleum-processing and industrial hub. Dangote Supplies 71% of Nigeria’s Petrol, and the company is keen on expanding its refining footprint. The company has been exploring opportunities to increase its refining capacity and supply petroleum products to other African countries.
The project is also expected to create jobs and stimulate economic growth in the region. With the groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for September 30, stakeholders are eagerly awaiting the commencement of the project. The Lamu refinery project is a significant development in East Africa’s energy sector, and its impact will be closely monitored by industry experts and stakeholders.
Key points
- The Lamu refinery project is estimated at $17bn and is expected to process up to 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
- The project is expected to strengthen domestic and regional energy security, reduce reliance on imported refined petroleum products, and support wider industrial activity around Lamu.
- The Lamu project marks a major expansion of Dangote’s refining interests beyond Nigeria, with a target of 2.1 million barrels per day of refining capacity.
