Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote has said most African countries will be able to meet their own refined fuel needs by 2030, as he prepares to begin construction of a $16 billion refinery on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast.
Speaking to reporters in Nairobi, Africa's richest man said the 700,000-barrel-per-day plant in Lamu was due to be formally launched on Wednesday, September 23. Construction is expected to last about 30 months.
Asked by AFP when the continent could stop relying on imported fuel, Dangote said the exact location of refining is secondary, provided it happens within Africa. He presented the Lamu project as part of a broader effort to stop the continent from shipping out raw materials and to build the capacity to process and sell finished products at home.
He described that pattern as Africa's most damaging economic weakness. By his estimate, African countries earn only 5 to 10 per cent of the final value of their raw exports, then pay the full price to buy processed goods back. He argued this sends jobs abroad and amounts to "importing poverty."
The project is already contested. It faces a land rights case in court and criticism from Greenpeace and other groups over its environmental impact on the Lamu coast. Dangote played down the challenges, saying such cases pose no real problem and claiming that some people are opposed to Africa's development. The claimants and the environmental groups were not quoted in the AFP report.
Questions have also been raised about the refinery's feedstock, because East African countries are only starting to discover and develop significant oil reserves. Dangote said the plant would buy crude from several regions, including the Middle East and the United States. He added that it would be equipped to process African crude as production rises in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Dangote urged action now, saying Africa should not wait until it accounts for a quarter of the world's population before deciding how to secure its energy supply. He pointed to US President Donald Trump's threats to stop exporting diesel as an example of the risks of depending on foreign suppliers.
He also cast the refinery as modest against the continent's future needs. Though large for East Africa, he said, 700,000 barrels a day is a "start-up" next to the fuel demand a growing African economy will generate. He said further industries would follow around the site.
*Source: AFP, via Punch.*