Dangote Refinery a masterpiece of science, engineering, art

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

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Mr Ruto made the disclosure on Friday during a tour of the refinery 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 stated.

“I just want to tell the Dangote family here that the government of Kenya is 100 per cent behind this goal, our goal,” he added

The president of Kenya was accompanied by his wife Rachel Ruto, during the visit.

“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,” Aliko Dangote, the president/CEO of Dangote Industries Limited, said, referring to the plans to actualise the group’s so-called “Vision 2030.”

“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,” he added.

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Group revenue is planned to hit $110 billion by 2030, with EBITDA, which is projected at $10 billion for 2026, expected to have surged threefold to $30 billion by that time.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery is on track to break ground for the development of a 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, coastal Kenya, on 30 September, strategically positioned as the entry point into the East African market and to guarantee energy security in the region.

*Kenyan President William Ruto arrives Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos*

It is exploring a mix of internal cash flow, the ongoing IPO and bonds as financing for the project, Reuters reported in July, citing an interview with a senior company executive.

The project aspires to wean Kenya and its East African neighbours off reliance on fuel imports and bolster energy self-sufficiency in the region in line with Aliko Dangote’s grand ambition to industrialise Africa and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)’s goal of making the continent trade more with itself.

Dangote Group is actively leveraging the trade policy opportunities presented by the AfCFTA to build scale and shift away from a Nigerian powerhouse into a borderless, pan-African multinational.

At the moment, East Africa imports nearly all its fuels from the Middle East, leaving it at the mercy of headwinds and price volatility from the US war on Iran.

The project is expected to take three years and to cost between $15 billion and $16 billion, and could borrow a leaf from the construction of the refinery in Lagos, which has a similar capacity. The plant will process crude oil for Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

ALSO READ: Dangote refinery drove Nigeria’s petrol supply in August as NNPC refineries remain shut — Report

In August, David Ndii, a top economic adviser of Mr Ruto, said the Dangote Group has offered a 30 per cent stake in the proposed refinery to East African nations, with Kenya anticipated to take a 10 per cent equity for $500 million. Ethiopia and Rwanda are said to have indicated willingness to participate.

Ethiopia, Djibouti and Mr Dangote are currently in talks towards building a $660 million refined petroleum pipeline that will link Ethiopia and Djibouti, Reuters reported Thursday, quoting a spokesperson in Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office.

The venture will develop a 120-kilometre pipeline, with roughly 375,000 cubic metres of storage capacity ⁠at Damerjog in Djibouti and 800,000 cubic metres at Dewele in Ethiopia, it added.

It could cut logistics spending and delays along the Ethiopia-Djibouti transport corridor.

Engineers India Limited, a consultancy under India’s Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, will serve as the project management and engineering, procurement and construction management consultant for the Kenyan project, having been awarded the contract for the sum of $450 million.