President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has broken ground on a proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, Kenya, in a project estimated to cost $16bn.
Dangote and Kenyan President William Ruto attended the groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday as the Nigerian businessman seeks to replicate the success of his group’s refinery in Nigeria.
Speaking at the event, Dangote said the refinery would be completed and commissioned within 40 months.
“We will come back here and commission this refinery in 40 months from today,” he said.
He said the facility was designed to process about 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day and generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity, which he described as twice the capacity of Lagos.
According to Dangote, the project would also include production of one million tonnes of polypropylene and base oil, while supplying refined petroleum products to regional and international markets.
He said the group planned to supply at least 20 per cent of jet fuel consumed in Europe and the UK, citing the role of the Dangote refinery in meeting European jet fuel demand during a recent supply crisis.
Dangote said the Kenyan project would go beyond the construction of a refinery, describing it as the foundation of a wider industrial ecosystem involving energy, petrochemicals, logistics, engineering, marine services, manufacturing, technology and small and medium-sized enterprises.
“From our experience in Nigeria, this will give birth to an industrial zone, an ecosystem of energy, petrochemicals, logistics, engineering, marine services, manufacturing skills, technology, small and medium-sized enterprise and thousands of opportunities for people across the value chain,” he said.
He also announced plans to establish a training school that would train 1,000 Kenyan engineering graduates.
Ruto said the project would transform Kenya’s energy and industrial sectors while strengthening regional integration.
“This is bigger than a refinery. It is an investment in energy security, industrialisation, and regional integration,” the Kenyan president said.
He described the project as a sign that African countries were increasingly seeking to finance, build and add value to projects within the continent.
The groundbreaking comes despite a recent court order directing that the status quo be maintained in Lamu County, where the refinery is planned.
The order followed a petition by some local residents opposing the project. Judge Jane Onyango ordered that “the status quo prevailing” in the county be maintained.
Dangote Group had previously said the ruling could affect some activities at the site but maintained that the groundbreaking ceremony would proceed as scheduled.
