Kenyan President William Ruto has described the establishment of the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery as a demonstration of what African governments, investors and financial institutions can achieve together.
Ruto made the remarks during his recent tour of the refinery in Lagos, ahead of the September 30 groundbreaking of a planned 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, Kenya.
Ruto visited the Lekki refinery on Friday at the invitation of Dangote Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Aliko Dangote, ahead of the launch of the Dangote East African Refinery in Lamu. The visit came as Kenya and Dangote move towards the physical start of a project valued at about $15 billion.
In a post on X after the tour, Ruto described the Nigerian facility as “a massive investment” with a crude oil refining capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, saying it “produces more than 100 million litres of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel every day.”
He also highlighted the infrastructure supporting the Lagos refinery, saying: “The company has built 120km of sea cables to move crude from ships to the refinery.”
“This huge achievement is a testament of what African governments, investors and financial institutions can do together,” Ruto said.
The visit provided Ruto with a close look at the industrial model Dangote is preparing to extend to East Africa. The planned Lamu refinery is designed to process up to 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which would make it the largest refinery in East Africa if completed at its planned capacity.
Ruto said the Kenyan facility would go beyond refining fuel, linking it to energy security, industrialisation and job creation.
“The refinery whose construction we launch in Kenya next week will be bigger,” he said. “It will transform the petroleum sector in our country and region, providing fuel reliability and security, scaling up industrialisation and creating 60,000 jobs.”
He added: “When the refinery is completed, spin-off industries will emerge, including the production of fertilisers, chemicals, and packaging.”
The Kenyan project is now moving towards construction. A first cargo of 2,930 metric tonnes of heavy machinery and construction materials arrived at the Port of Lamu aboard the MV Da Yang ahead of the scheduled September 30 groundbreaking. The Kenya Ports Authority said the project could transform Lamu into a major energy and logistics centre serving Kenya and the wider region.
The refinery is planned to process crude from Kenya’s Turkana County and other sources in East and southern Africa, potentially giving Lamu a wider role in regional petroleum logistics. Kenyan authorities have also linked the project to plans for a potential crude-oil pipeline from Turkana to Lamu.
For Dangote, the Kenyan project extends a refining strategy that has already established the Lagos facility as one of Africa’s largest refining complexes. The Nigerian refinery is also being expanded, with plans to increase capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029 through a $14.3 billion expansion.
The expansion plans are unfolding alongside Dangote Refinery’s initial public offering, which is seeking to raise ₦2.15 trillion ($1.6 billion) through the sale of 4.1 billion shares. Reuters reported that the proceeds are intended to support the planned capacity expansion.
