Dangote eyes Kenya for new refinery, FT reports

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is looking at Kenya as the site of a 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery that ‌he intends to build in East Africa, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing an interview with him.

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

The report comes after Kenyan President William Ruto said last month that East African countries were discussing plans for a joint oil refinery at the Tanzanian port of Tanga that is modeled on Nigeria’s Dangote operation.

However, Dangote in the interview compared Kenya’s Mombasa to Tanzania’s Tanga port, and said, “Kenyans consume more. It’s a bigger economy.”

“The ball is in the hands of President Ruto,” ‌he said. “Whatever President Ruto says is what I’ll do,” he added. Dangote estimated it would cost $15 billion to $17 billion to build the refinery, the FT report said.

East Africa currently imports all of its refined petroleum products, mainly from the Middle East, leaving the region vulnerable to the supply disruptions and price spikes that have been seen during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, at an infrastructure summit in Nairobi last month, said he could replicate his 650,000 barrel a day Nigerian refinery in East Africa, provided governments in the region supported the initiative.