LAGOS, Sept 28 – Kenya is accelerating administrative preparations for the proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, with President William Ruto saying his government is working to remove bureaucratic delays ahead of the project’s planned groundbreaking on September 30.
Ruto made the remarks during a September 25 visit to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, where he toured the Nigerian facility with businessman Aliko Dangote before returning to Kenya for the launch of the proposed East African refinery. The visit came days after Ruto said Kenya was ready to break ground on the project following discussions with Dangote and Africa Finance Corporation Chief Executive Samaila Zubairu.
The Kenyan president said the government had secured the land required for the project and was addressing other administrative requirements to ensure construction proceeds without unnecessary delays.
“We are working on all the other enablers to make sure that we don’t spend time on doing administrative bureaucratic stuff. We spend time on doing what we must do so that at the earliest opportunity we can refine products out of Lamu in Kenya,” Ruto said.
He described the project as a regional investment that could expand industrial activity, employment and technical capabilities across East Africa.
Larger Than the Lagos Refinery
Dangote said the proposed Lamu complex would be larger than the company’s 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lagos, with additional processing equipment designed around the characteristics of crude expected to supply the Kenyan facility.
“But Kenya will be a little bit bigger than what you are going to see,” Dangote told Ruto while explaining the differences between the two projects.
The Lamu development is expected to include a 1,000-megawatt power plant, twice the generation capacity associated with the Lagos refinery, as well as a one-million-tonne-per-year polypropylene plant designed to support downstream industrial activity.
Dangote also highlighted additional processing units, including a heavier residue fluid catalytic cracker, a coker and a vacuum distillation unit, reflecting the planned configuration of the Kenyan facility.
The proposed refinery is currently estimated at around $15 billion to $16 billion, with a planned processing capacity of 700,000 barrels per day. The project is expected to serve Kenya as well as wider East African markets.
Regional Energy and Industrial Hub
Ruto said Kenya views the refinery as more than a domestic fuel project, with the government seeking participation from other East African countries.
“Aliko asked me to invite colleagues because this is not a Kenyan refinery; it’s going to be a regional refinery,” Ruto said, adding that eight regional leaders had been invited to the groundbreaking ceremony and five had confirmed attendance.
The project is intended to expand petroleum supply while supporting industries that can use refined products and associated infrastructure. Ruto also pointed to opportunities for Kenyan engineers and other skilled workers in areas including chemical and mechanical engineering.
“We’re not looking at this as just a refinery, as has been said here by the presentation that we’ve had. We’re looking at a refinery that is also going to elevate our industrial scale,” he said.
The proposed complex comes as Kenya works to develop its own crude resources in Turkana, although securing sufficient crude supply for a refinery of this scale remains an important consideration for the project. Reuters has previously reported that crude supply, alongside financing and infrastructure, represents a key challenge for the proposed Lamu facility.
Dangote’s Lagos Experience
Ruto said his visit to the Lagos refinery gave him a clearer understanding of the scale and technical complexity of the Kenyan project.
“I was coming from UNGA, but Dangote asked me to make a stopover, and now I can say without fear of any contradiction that this visit was worth every minute of the time I have spent here,” he said.
According to Ruto, Kenya had initially discussed importing fertiliser from Dangote before discussions evolved toward the development of a refinery for the region.
Dangote said his group would draw on the experience gained from designing, constructing and operating the Lagos facility while adapting the Kenyan project to local crude characteristics and regional energy requirements.
The Lamu refinery would therefore represent a second major refining investment by Dangote in Africa, extending the group’s downstream strategy from West Africa into East Africa.
The project also builds on Dangote’s broader expansion across African energy infrastructure. India’s state-owned Engineers India Ltd. recently secured a contract worth more than $450 million to provide project management and engineering services for the planned Lamu refinery, having previously provided similar services for Dangote’s Lagos refinery.
With the September 30 groundbreaking approaching, Kenya is now moving from administrative preparation toward the construction phase of a project that would significantly expand the country’s refining capacity and establish a new downstream energy hub on the East African coast.
