AFRICA’S richest businessman, Aliko Dangote, has confirmed that Kenya will host the company’s proposed 700,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery, ending months of speculation over the location of the multi-billion-dollar project.
According to Edwin Devakumar, vice president for Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, the refinery will be built in Lamu, a coastal island in Kenya. He disclosed that the project is expected to take about 30 months to complete. Tanzania had also been considered as a potential location before the final decision was made.
The announcement follows Dangote’s recent visit to Tanzania, where he met with President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
During the meeting, he explained the commercial and technical reasons behind the decision to locate the refinery in Lamu while also inviting Tanzania to participate in the investment.
Earlier, Dangote had indicated that Mombasa was under consideration before settling on Lamu.
The planned refinery mirrors the scale of the company’s flagship facility in Nigeria. Dangote’s 650,000-bpd refinery, which began operations in 2024, is currently the largest refinery in Africa.
The company also intends to expand its Nigerian refinery to 1.4 million bpd by 2028, a move that would make it the largest refinery in the world by capacity.
The Nigerian refinery has significantly transformed the country’s downstream oil sector by reducing reliance on imported petroleum products. In addition to supplying the domestic market, it exports aviation fuel to destinations including the United States, Europe, and Brazil. The company also plans to list the refinery on the Nigerian Exchange in 2027.
Dangote Refinery has continued to strengthen its presence across Africa through exports.
Earlier this year, the company announced the sale of 12 cargoes totaling 456,000 tonnes of refined products to countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Tanzania, Ghana, and Togo, reinforcing its growing influence in the continent’s energy market.
