NAIROBI, July 10 – Tanzanian businessman Mohammed Dewji is seeking to invest $100 million in Aliko Dangote’s proposed $17 billion oil refinery in Kenya, according to an interview with Bloomberg.
The planned investment would make Dewji one of the early African investors backing what is expected to become one of the continent’s largest refining projects, further strengthening regional participation in East Africa’s energy infrastructure.
Dangote recently confirmed plans to build a 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Kenya, replicating the model of his flagship refinery in Lagos, Nigeria. Once completed, the facility is expected to become East Africa’s largest refinery and the second largest on the African continent, significantly expanding regional refining capacity.
The project is expected to reduce East Africa’s dependence on imported refined petroleum products while improving fuel security and supporting industrial development across Kenya and neighbouring markets.
Tanzania had previously been considered as a potential location for the refinery before Dangote confirmed Kenya as the preferred destination for the investment.
The proposed refinery forms part of Dangote’s broader strategy to expand industrial investments across Africa following the successful commissioning of the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, currently the world’s largest single-train refinery.
If realised, Dewji’s planned investment would highlight growing intra-African private sector collaboration on large-scale infrastructure and energy projects, reinforcing efforts to deepen regional industrialisation and strengthen Africa’s downstream petroleum sector.
