Africa’s Billionaire Dangote: From West to East Africa with $17bn oil refinery package

MONDAY May 11, 2026

By Adam Ihucha

The Tranquillity News Correspondent, Tanzania

Africa’s billionaire Aliko Dangote is taking his industrial ambitions eastward.

Fresh off the launch of Nigeria’s landmark Dangote Refinery in Lagos, Africa’s richest man is now proposing a $17bn oil refinery in Kenya — a move that could transform East Africa into the continent’s next major refining and energy hub.

The proposed refinery, expected to process 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, would rank among the largest industrial investments ever undertaken in East Africa.

According to an exclusive interview with the Financial Times, Dangote is increasingly favouring Mombasa as the project’s home base, citing the Kenyan port city’s logistics advantages and economic scale.

“I’m leaning more towards Mombasa because Mombasa has a much larger, deeper port,” Dangote said.

He also pointed to Kenya’s consumption power as a key driver behind the investment decision.

“Kenyans consume more. It’s a bigger economy,” he added.

The proposal underscores Dangote’s broader strategy for extending his industrial footprint beyond West Africa and positioning his conglomerate at the centre of Africa’s refining, logistics, and energy value chain.

At an estimated cost of between $15bn and $17bn, the Kenyan refinery would significantly outsize competing projects in the region.

Uganda, for example, is developing a $4bn refinery in Kabaale, Hoima District through a partnership with UAE-based Alpha MBM Investments.

That refinery is expected to process 60,000 barrels per day and begin operations between late 2029 and early 2030.

By comparison, Dangote’s proposed Kenyan facility would operate at more than ten times that capacity.

The investment also reflects a deeper market opportunity.

East and Central Africa remain heavily dependent on imported refined petroleum products despite oil discoveries in Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan.

The region currently operates only one refinery, compared with seven in South Africa, 21 in North Africa, and 14 in West Africa.

That imbalance has become increasingly costly as geopolitical tensions, shipping disruptions, and global supply chain volatility continue to pressure fuel-importing economies.

Industry analysts say a refinery of this scale could fundamentally alter East Africa’s industrial trajectory by reducing fuel import costs, strengthening regional supply chains and stimulating downstream industries including petrochemicals, manufacturing, and logistics.

Yet the proposal is not only commercial — it is deeply political.

Only weeks earlier, East African leaders had been discussing a shared regional refinery project in Tanga, Tanzania.

Dangote had previously pledged support for the initiative, saying his group could lead construction and deliver the refinery within four to five years.

The project was envisioned as a regional processing hub for crude oil from Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Speaking at the Africa We Build Summit in Nairobi in April, Kenyan President William Ruto framed the refinery as a symbol of East African integration.

“That refinery will process oil from the DRC, Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda,” Ruto said.

“We will then build a pipeline from Tanga to Mombasa, allowing finished products to move through infrastructure we jointly own with Uganda.”

I’m leaning more towards Mombasa because Mombasa has a much larger, deeper port,” Africa’s billionaire Aliko Dangote.

But the announcement quickly exposed fractures within the region.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu later revealed that she had not been consulted before the project was publicly announced, highlighting the diplomatic sensitivities surrounding strategic infrastructure and regional competition.

Dangote’s apparent pivot toward a Kenya-focused refinery now signals a broader shift in East Africa’s economic dynamics, where national interests may increasingly outweigh regional integration ambitions.

Still, Dangote suggested the final direction of the project remains politically flexible.

“The ball is in the hands of President Ruto,” he said. “Whatever President Ruto says is what I’ll do.”

The Kenya refinery proposal fits squarely within Dangote’s long-term corporate strategy.

The billionaire industrialist is seeking to expand his conglomerate into a $100bn enterprise by 2030 while doubling refining capacity across his operations.

His Lagos refinery — currently processing 650,000 barrels per day — is projected to expand to 1.4 million barrels daily, potentially surpassing India’s Jamnagar Refinery as the largest in the world.

For investors and policymakers alike, the proposed Kenyan refinery represents more than another energy project.

It signals the rise of a new African industrial era in which private capital, infrastructure dominance, and regional energy security are becoming increasingly intertwined.

If completed, the refinery will not only reshape fuel markets across East Africa — it can establish Dangote as the single most influential industrial player on the continent, stretching from the Atlantic coast of Lagos to the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa.