Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, was set to break ground on a new $16 billion mega-refinery in Kenya on Wednesday. He says it will mark a vital step toward the continent’s self-sufficiency in fuel.
Dangote built Africa’s biggest oil refinery in his native Nigeria. He says the east African version will have a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, larger than any refinery in Europe.
The plant is being built on the Indian Ocean coast at Lamu, where Kenya is also developing a major port. The project has already faced a lawsuit from a local community over land rights.
A court ruling published Monday said the ground-breaking could proceed, but the case will continue. Greenpeace and other environmentalists have also raised objections over its impact.
Dangote dismissed the challenges on Tuesday. “There’s actually no problem with these sort of cases… There are people who don’t want the development of Africa,” he told reporters.
He said Lamu was chosen over Tanzania and Mombasa because it offers “better, cleaner water,” “solid land,” and a “deep sea area.”
The refinery will include a 1,000-megawatt power facility, with half the output feeding back into Kenya’s national grid.
“By 2030, the majority of African countries will be self-sufficient (in fuel). It does not matter where it is refined, but it should be in the African continent, on the soil of Africa,” Dangote said.
Dangote Says Crude Will Come From Multiple Sources
There have been questions about where the refinery will get its crude oil. East African countries are only just starting to find and exploit significant reserves.
Dangote said the plant would source crude from multiple places, including the Middle East and the United States. He said supply would shift toward regional sources as countries like Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique ramp up production.
“Are we going to wait until (Africa has) one quarter of the world’s population before we start thinking of what to do? We have to start addressing that issue today,” he said, pointing to US President Donald Trump’s threats to halt diesel exports.
He described the 700,000-barrel plant as “a start-up” rather than a final solution to Africa’s fuel needs.
Nigeria’s Refinery Hits 105% Capacity In August
Meanwhile, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Nigeria has hit a major operational milestone. It ran at an average 105.21% capacity utilisation in August 2026, according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The refinery processed an average 736,470 barrels of crude per day in August. That is a sharp jump from the 497,000 barrels processed daily in July, when utilisation stood at 71%.
Crude deliveries to the plant rose 16.75% to 683,000 barrels per day during the month. This gave the facility more feedstock to raise output. Daily production of refined white products, including petrol, diesel and jet fuel, averaged 84.43 million litres.
Domestic petrol supply from the refinery climbed 39% month-on-month to 35.87 million litres per day.
That accounted for about 71% of total domestic petrol supply. National petrol imports fell 26% to 14.60 million litres per day over the same period.
Diesel imports dropped even more sharply, from 7.90 million litres daily in July to just 1.30 million litres in August, as the refinery’s local diesel output grew.
The plant also exported an average 9.73 million litres of petrol, 8.75 million litres of diesel and 21.30 million litres of aviation fuel daily in August.
