Dangote Industries Limited has confirmed plans to invest up to $17 billion in the construction of a 700,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) oil refinery in Kenya, marking one of the largest private energy investments ever proposed on the African continent.
The project, which will be located in Lamu on Kenya's coast, reinforces the company's ambition to expand its refining footprint beyond Nigeria and strengthen Africa's capacity to process crude oil locally rather than rely on imported petroleum products.
A spokesperson for Dangote Industries confirmed the estimated project cost to Bloomberg, while reiterating billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote's commitment to establishing a world-class refining hub in East Africa. According to the company, the refinery is expected to take about five years to complete once construction begins.
The investment follows commitments made by Dangote to the governments of Kenya and Uganda, where he pledged to replicate the success of the company's flagship refinery in Nigeria. The planned facility will mirror the scale of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos, which currently has a refining capacity of 650,000bpd and has become a major supplier of refined petroleum products across West Africa.
Earlier, Edwin Devakumar, Vice President for Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, confirmed that Kenya had been selected as the preferred destination for the refinery after months of evaluating potential locations across East Africa. Tanzania was initially considered for the investment before the company eventually settled on Lamu because of its commercial and logistical advantages.
During a recent visit to Tanzania, Dangote met with President Samia Suluhu Hassan, where he explained the commercial and technical reasons behind the decision to locate the refinery in Kenya while inviting Tanzania to participate in the regional investment.
Industry analysts believe the proposed refinery could significantly reshape East Africa's downstream petroleum market by boosting regional refining capacity, improving energy security and reducing dependence on imported fuels. The investment is also expected to stimulate the development of petroleum storage facilities, marine infrastructure, logistics services and thousands of direct and indirect jobs across the region.
The announcement comes as Dangote Industries continues to consolidate its influence in Africa's downstream petroleum sector. In Nigeria, the company recently opened petroleum product sales to all marketers, discontinued its consortium sales arrangement and reduced both gantry and coastal loading prices for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), triggering fresh competition among depot owners and fuel marketers.
Beyond the Kenyan investment, Dangote Industries is pursuing an ambitious expansion of its Nigerian refinery, with plans to increase refining capacity from 650,000bpd to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2028. If achieved, the complex would become the largest refinery in the world, further strengthening the company's position as a leading player in the global refining industry.
The planned $17 billion refinery in Kenya represents another significant step towards Dangote's long-term vision of creating an integrated African refining network capable of meeting the continent's growing fuel demand while reducing its dependence on imported refined petroleum products.