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Dangote Plans Major East African Refinery
Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Group, has vowed to replicate his 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) Nigerian refinery in East Africa with support from governments in the region.
Dangote spoke on Thursday at the 2026 Africa We Build Summit — an infrastructure financing conference — held in Nairobi.
“I can give commitment to the two presidents that were here, if they support the refinery, we will build the identical one that we have in Nigeria,” Dangote said.
The billionaire stressed the need for African countries to “build self-sufficiency”.
Dangote said work has already commenced to scale up the capacity of the Nigerian refinery to 1.4 million bpd.
“We are building that one (the Nigerian plant) to scale 1.4 million barrels a day and will be the largest refinery in the world,” he said.
“… we have already started piling.”
The business mogul said the facility would account for about 10 percent of the total refining capacity of the United States (US) and would be integrated with petrochemical production to support manufacturing.
On Thursday, Kenyan President William Ruto said East African countries are discussing plans to build a joint oil refinery at Tanzania’s port of Tanga to serve multiple countries in the region.
Ruto, who also attended the conference, said the proposed refinery would process crude oil from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda.
“We’re going to have a joint refinery in Tanga to benefit all of us because that refinery is going to take on board the oil from the DRC, the oil from Kenya, the oil from South Sudan, and the oil from Uganda,” he said.
Dangote also said Africa must prioritise local production and industrial capacity, warning that dependence on imported finished goods exposes economies to supply disruptions and price volatility.
“It is possible — Africans can do it. Let us not be scared,” the industrialist said.
Dangote, citing polypropylene production in Nigeria as an example, noted that domestic manufacturing has helped sustain industries such as cement, flour, and grain processing in the West African nation.
If the East African project succeeds, it would mark another milestone in the billionaire’s expansion plans on the African continent.
The company is currently expanding fertiliser production in several African countries and intends to launch a Pan-African initial public offering (IPO), selling at least 10 percent of the refining business to fund a $40 billion growth vision.
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