Dangote Leans Towards Kenya Refinery After Suluhu Questions Ruto over Tanga Plan

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is now favouring Kenya as the location for a proposed East African oil refinery after Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan publicly questioned Kenyan President William Ruto over earlier plans to build the facility in Tanzania’s port city of Tanga.

Dangote said Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa had emerged as the preferred option because of its larger port infrastructure and stronger fuel demand, marking a shift from earlier discussions that had centred on Tanga.

The change follows an awkward diplomatic moment during Ruto’s recent state visit to Tanzania, where Suluhu challenged him before lawmakers over announcements linking Dangote to a refinery project in Tanga.

Suluhu said she had not been consulted before the project was publicly announced and invited Ruto to explain the matter to Tanzanian MPs.

The proposed refinery was initially framed as a regional project involving several East African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, aimed at reducing the region’s dependence on imported refined petroleum products.

Ruto later sought to ease tensions, saying the final decision on the refinery’s location would be left to investors led by Dangote.

He told delegates at a regional summit in Nairobi that had he known the announcement would trigger concerns in Tanzania, he would have instead announced the refinery for Mombasa.

The refinery is expected to cost between $15 billion and $17 billion and would mirror Dangote’s 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Nigeria, currently Africa’s largest refining facility.

A refinery in either Kenya or Tanzania would significantly reshape East Africa’s fuel supply chain by reducing reliance on imports from the Middle East and Asia while boosting regional energy security.

ligadwah@businessdayafrica.org