Kenyan President Praises Dangote Refinery During Visit

Kenya President William Ruto has called the Dangote Refinery “a masterpiece of science, engineering with art.”

Mr Ruto shared this on Friday when he visited the refinery located on the outskirts of Lagos.

“I always know Nigerians to be very great people, very aggressive go-getters. But I didn’t anticipate that it was at this scale,” he said.

He told the Dangote family, “I just want to tell you that the government of Kenya is 100 per cent behind this goal, our goal.”

The Kenyan president was with his wife, Rachel Ruto, during this visit.

Aliko Dangote, the president and CEO of Dangote Industries Limited, talked about the company’s plans. “We are going to spend almost $50 billion investments in Africa to industrialise our continent, and that’s why Kenya is taking part of that,” he said, referring to the group’s “Vision 2030.”

Dangote added, “Our power plant is very big, but the whole of Lamu would actually be double because we are going to produce about 1000 megawatts in Lamu, and we will have 500 megawatts to sell to the government of Kenya.”

By 2030, group revenue is projected to reach $110 billion. The EBITDA is expected to grow from $10 billion in 2026 to $30 billion by then.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is set to begin work on a 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, coastal Kenya, on 30 September. This refinery is key for entering the East African market and ensuring energy security in the region.

The company is looking at using a mix of internal cash flow, an ongoing IPO, and bonds to finance the project. Reuters reported this in July, citing a senior company executive.

The goal of the project is to help Kenya and its East African neighbors stop relying on fuel imports. This fits with Aliko Dangote’s ambition to industrialise Africa and the African Continental Free Trade Area’s goal of boosting trade within the continent.

Dangote Group is working within the trade policies of the AfCFTA to expand beyond Nigeria and become a pan-African company.

Currently, East Africa imports nearly all its fuels from the Middle East. This leaves the region vulnerable to price swings and issues from the US war on Iran.

The project will take three years and cost between $15 billion and $16 billion. It could learn from the Lagos refinery, which has similar capacity. The plant will process crude oil for Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In August, David Ndii, a top economic adviser to Mr Ruto, said the Dangote Group has offered a 30 per cent stake in the new refinery to East African nations. Kenya is expected to take a 10 per cent share for $500 million. Ethiopia and Rwanda have shown interest in joining.

Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Mr Dangote are currently discussing a $660 million refined petroleum pipeline linking Ethiopia and Djibouti. This was reported by Reuters on Thursday, citing a spokesperson from Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office.

The project will create a 120-kilometre pipeline with about 375,000 cubic meters of storage capacity at Damerjog in Djibouti and 800,000 cubic meters at Dewele in Ethiopia.

This pipeline could reduce logistics costs and delays along the Ethiopia-Djibouti transport route.

Engineers India Limited, a consultancy under India’s Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, will manage the project. They received a $450 million contract for project management, engineering, procurement, and construction management.