Key facts
- The East Africa Oil Refinery in Lamu, Kenya, is scheduled to break ground on September 30.
- The project's cost is estimated at $17 billion by Kenyan officials and $20 billion by Aliko Dangote.
- The refinery is designed to process 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
- The refinery will serve Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji has committed $100 million to the project.
- Dangote Group offered East African nations a 30% equity stake valued at $1.5 billion.
Kenya is set to break ground this week on the East Africa Oil Refinery in Lamu, a project backed by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote. Kenyan officials estimate the project's cost at $17 billion, while Dangote himself has placed it at $20 billion. The refinery is designed to process 700,000 barrels of crude oil daily and will serve Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Disclosed financing for the project currently totals $1.6 billion. Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji has committed $100 million, and Dangote Group offered East African nations a combined 30% equity stake valued at $1.5 billion on August 21. Kenya's economic adviser David Ndii indicated Kenya's individual 10% allocation would be about $500 million.
The project involves two separate pipelines with undisclosed costs, capacities, or completion dates. President Ruto is discussing the construction of a pipeline from Turkana's oil fields to Lamu to supply crude oil to the refinery. Dangote is also involved in unrelated pipeline projects in Djibouti-Ethiopia and a corridor connecting Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa, part of a larger $46 billion to $50 billion continental program.
The Lamu refinery faces competition from a similar-scale energy hub in Tanga, Tanzania, a $20 billion project partnered with Vitol Bahrain. Uganda is supporting both the Lamu and Tanga projects, while also advancing its own 60,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Hoima. Dangote anticipates project completion between 2029 and 2030, with construction beginning in October.