Africa’s wealthiest industrialist, Aliko Dangote, has officially chosen Kenya as the home of his planned East African mega-refinery putting to rest intense speculation over which country would host the massive project.
The facility, modelled after Dangote’s sprawling 650,000-bpd refinery in Nigeria, will be sited in Lamu, an island off Kenya’s coast, according to Edwin Devakumar, Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited. He confirmed the decision to AFP on Tuesday.
The refinery is expected to take approximately 30 months to complete in East Africa’s largest economy.
Tanzania Loses Out
While Tanzania was initially in the running for the project, Dangote ultimately tipped the scales in Kenya’s favour. The Nigerian billionaire met with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan late last month to personally explain the commercial and technical rationale behind the Lamu decision. He also extended an invitation for Tanzania to participate in the investment.
Dangote had earlier hinted at Mombasa as a possible location before settling on Lamu.
A Continental Game-Changer
Dangote’s Nigerian refinery which came online in 2024 is already the largest on the continent. But the industrialist has even bigger ambitions: he plans to more than double its capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2028, a move that would make it the world’s largest refinery.
The privately-run Dangote Refinery has already revolutionised Nigeria’s energy landscape, ending the country’s near-total reliance on imported petrol despite being a major oil producer. Decades of neglect and mismanagement of state-owned refineries left Nigeria dependent on foreign fuel until Dangote stepped in.
Global Reach
Beyond petrol, Dangote is already exporting aviation fuel to the United States, Europe, and Brazil. The company also plans to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange next year.
In recent months, Dangote Refinery has sold 12 cargoes totalling 456,000 tonnes to countries including Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Tanzania, Ghana, and Togo underscoring its growing pan-African footprint.
