Dangote adds another East Africa site to build a mega-refinery

Billionaire Aliko Dangote’s plan to replicate his Nigerian mega-refinery in East Africa is gaining momentum — he just doesn’t know where to build it yet.

Africa’s richest man last month personally pledged to the leaders of Kenya and Uganda to construct a duplicate of his 650 000 barrel-a-day refinery outside Lagos at Tanzania’s port of Tanga. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was absent from the Nairobi event, later said she hadn’t been consulted about the project.

Dangote has since added Mombasa, a Kenyan port city that’s home to a shuttered refinery, as a potential site, according to an interview with the Financial Times. And most recently, he floated Lamu, a coastal town that is a UNESCO World Heritage site, as a possible refining hub. The options narrow the choices to a roughly 370-kilometer (230-mile) stretch of Indian Ocean coastline.

Refineries have become a hot topic in Africa as the Iran war sharpens concerns over fuel security and dependence on imported supplies. The continent exports three-quarters of its crude production and imports 70% of its refined fuels, including gasoline, diesel and kerosene, according to the African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation. East and southern Africa are especially reliant on oil-product shipments from the Persian Gulf, adding urgency to plans for new domestic refining capacity.

“We shall support Mr. Dangote and we are ready to buy shares in the regional refinery because our goal is regional integration and industrial development,” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said in a statement on Sunday after the two met. The proposed $17 billion project is expected to serve Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other regional markets.

Uganda will continue with its own plans to build a 60 000 barrel-a-day refinery in Hoima, Museveni said. The $4 billion plant has been in the works for more than a decade.

Hassan also met Dangote over the weekend and assured him of her government’s support for a regional refinery project and potential investment in fertiliser production, according to a statement.

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