Aliko Dangote has revealed that his group’s planned refinery in Kenya will feature a power-generation plant twice the size of the one supporting his refinery in Nigeria, as the project moves towards its September 30 groundbreaking.
Dangote made the disclosure during Kenyan President William Ruto’s visit to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos, where he outlined some of the features planned for the Lamu refinery.
According to Dangote, the Kenyan project will have about 1,000 megawatts of power-generation capacity, with approximately 500MW expected to be available for sale to the Kenyan government.
The additional electricity is expected to form part of the wider industrial infrastructure around the refinery and provide another source of power for Kenya once the facility becomes operational.
The proposed Lamu refinery is expected to have a refining capacity of 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day, placing it on a scale comparable to the planned expanded capacity of Dangote’s Nigerian operation.
Dangote’s Nigerian refinery currently has a crude distillation capacity of about 700,000 barrels per day, with an expansion plan targeting 1.4 million barrels per day.
The businessman also told Ruto that the Kenyan refinery would incorporate heavier processing equipment than some of the machinery installed at the Lagos facility.
One of the notable additions will be a coker, a refinery unit designed to process heavier petroleum residues and convert them into more commercially useful products.
Dangote also highlighted the planned use of heavier residue fluid catalytic cracking equipment at Lamu, indicating that the Kenyan facility is being designed with a different configuration from the existing Nigerian refinery.
The power-generation component will reportedly rely on petroleum coke, or petcoke, a carbon-rich by-product of oil refining that can be used as an industrial fuel.
Dangote said the larger power infrastructure was part of the design that would make the Kenyan refinery more than simply a fuel-processing facility.
President Ruto confirmed that September 30, 2026, had been set for the groundbreaking ceremony for the Lamu refinery.
The Kenyan president said the government had already secured the land required for the project and was working to put other necessary conditions in place to allow construction to proceed without administrative delays.
Ruto also said the refinery could create opportunities for Kenyan professionals and businesses in areas including engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and other technical and commercial fields.
The project is expected to form part of a broader industrial development around Lamu, with Dangote saying the refinery could attract additional investors and businesses once operations begin.
The proposed Kenyan facility is estimated in recent reports to require an investment of between $15 billion and $17 billion, although the final project cost and implementation details may evolve as development progresses.
Dangote Industries had earlier announced a long-term plan to raise its combined refining capacity to 2.1 million barrels per day, consisting of 1.4 million barrels per day in Nigeria and 700,000 barrels per day from the planned Kenya complex.
The strategy would give the group a major refining presence in both West and East Africa while positioning the Kenyan refinery to supply petroleum products to markets in the region.
The Lamu project comes as African countries seek to expand local refining capacity and reduce dependence on imported petroleum products.
Dangote has previously said that greater refining capacity within Africa could help retain more value from the continent’s crude resources and reduce exposure to international fuel supply disruptions.
The planned project also follows the expansion of Dangote’s Nigerian refinery, which has become one of the continent’s largest refining facilities since commencing operations.
With the September 30 groundbreaking date confirmed by the Kenyan government, attention will now shift to construction timelines, financing, infrastructure development and the eventual commissioning of the Lamu refinery.
If completed as planned, the project would add another large-scale refining facility to Africa’s energy landscape while extending Dangote Group’s refining operations beyond Nigeria.