Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and owner of Dangote Refinery, has appointed Engineers India Limited (EIL) to oversee the construction of his proposed $16 billion refinery and petrochemical complex in Kenya.
EIL, an Indian state-controlled engineering consultancy, has signed a $450 million contract with Dangote for the 700,000 barrels-per-day greenfield refinery and petrochemical project in Lamu, a coastal town in Kenya.
The company was also involved in the development of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos and is currently overseeing its expansion.
“Once completed, this project will be critical in strengthening fuel production within East Africa, reducing reliance on imports, and supporting regional energy security,” EIL said in a filing with the Mumbai stock exchange, according to the Times of India.
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Dangote said earlier this month that construction of the Kenyan refinery would commence by the end of September.
The proposed facility will have a crude-processing capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, making it one of the largest planned refining projects in Africa.
The project is expected to also include pipeline infrastructure connecting Lamu to Ethiopia, as well as a proposed link between Djibouti and Ethiopia.
The pipelines form part of Dangote’s broader plan to develop a 4,000-kilometre network connecting landlocked countries across the region, extending his energy infrastructure interests beyond West Africa.
The Kenyan refinery will add to Dangote’s growing refining portfolio, which is anchored by his 650,000-barrels-per-day refinery in Lagos. The Lagos facility is expected to have its capacity doubled to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029.
The expansion into Kenya would extend Dangote’s refining operations from the Atlantic coast of West Africa to the Indian Ocean, strengthening the group’s footprint in Africa’s downstream energy market.
Dangote has also set a target of $100 billion in annual revenue for the Dangote Group by 2030 and plans to invest as much as $50 billion over the next four years to expand its businesses across Africa.
His net worth stood at $35.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
