Dangote Eyes $16 Billion Lamu Refinery as Kenya Seeks East Africa’s Largest Fuel Hub

Aliko Dangote to Borrow $11.2 Billion for Mega Lamu Refinery Project

Aliko Dangote will borrow about $11.2 billion to build his proposed oil refinery at Lamu, and says the plant cannot compete with imported fuel unless the Kenyan government shields it. The Nigerian billionaire put the financing split at 70 percent debt and 30 percent equity on a project he now costs at $16 billion, down from an earlier estimate of $17 billion after his team concluded the plant could be finished in four years.

Construction is expected to begin by October, with the refinery designed to process 700,000 barrels a day, exceeding the 650,000 handled at Lagos and ranking as East Africa’s largest. Dangote said President William Ruto would need to provide land, mobilise regional financing and protect the plant against what he described as the dumping of cheap products from Russia and India, warning that no refinery in the world can survive without that protection, and Ruto has said Kenya will invest through the National Infrastructure Fund without specifying the size of the stake.

Feedstock would come from Uganda’s oil fields through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, alongside future Turkana output and imported crude through the Port of Lamu, and Dangote said the plant would supply markets across eastern and northern Africa including Egypt. The Kenyan announcement lands as Dangote prepares to list the Nigerian refinery, and Forbes puts his net worth at $28.5 billion, built on cement, sugar, fertiliser and oil refining.