Africa’s richest man plans new oil refinery in Mombasa
Shola Lawal (Al Jazeera)
Billionaire Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, is planning to build a $15-17bn oil refinery in Mombasa, Kenya, aiming to reduce the continent’s reliance on Middle Eastern imports. The plan follows the success of his $19bn Lagos refinery and comes amid global energy disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz closure. Kenyan President William Ruto has expressed support, though East Africa’s fragmented political and logistical landscape poses challenges.
Billionaire Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, is planning to build a new oil refinery in Mombasa, Kenya, following the successful operation of his $19bn refinery in Lagos, Nigeria, in early 2024. The new project is expected to provide a more stable energy supply for East Africa, which currently depends heavily on oil imports from the Middle East.
The plan emerges as African nations seek to boost energy security amid global disruptions linked to conflicts between the US, Israel, and Iran. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz—through which about 20% of the world’s crude oil and natural gas passes—has driven up oil prices and disrupted supply chains.
Dangote’s Lagos refinery, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, is the world’s largest single-train refinery. Since reaching full capacity in February 2026, it has begun selling large volumes of crude across the continent, especially jet fuel, as hundreds of flights were canceled regionwide.
“We don’t want to be held hostage by the Strait of Hormuz or wars started by others. We have our resources and will use them to industrialize the region,” Kenyan President William Ruto said at an event in Nairobi in April. He also said East African nations were negotiating to build a joint refinery at Tanzania’s Tanga port.
However, in an interview with the Financial Times on May 19, Dangote said he leans toward building the refinery in Mombasa instead of Tanga. “I lean towards Mombasa because its port is larger and deeper. Kenyans consume more, and their economy is bigger. The ball is now in President Ruto’s court,” Dangote said. He estimated construction costs at $15-17bn.
According to analyst Dumebi Oluwole of Lagos-based consultancy Stears, expanding into East Africa—whose trade environment differs greatly from West Africa—could be challenging. “Dangote has proven he can build at scale. The test in East Africa is whether he can navigate the political and logistical landscape of a fragmented multi-country market,” she said.
A 2022 African Union report shows that despite significant crude reserves, African nations refine only about 44% of the oil they consume, importing the rest. East Africa currently has no refining capacity, though the region holds about 4.7 billion barrels of crude reserves, mostly in Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The only refinery that once operated in Mombasa shut down in 2013.
Kenya imported 40 million barrels of oil in 2025, mainly from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, and Oman—all affected by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Experts say additional local refining capacity would help lower fuel prices, reduce transport costs, and provide energy for people and businesses, as well as byproducts such as fertilizers for farmers and petrochemicals for manufacturers.
“Dangote has opened the door. The question now is whether African institutions and governments will walk through it,” Oluwole said. Besides Dangote’s project, another refinery funded by the Ugandan government in Hoima is underway, expected to reach a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day by 2029.
