Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday visited the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos, days ahead of the planned groundbreaking of a new refinery being developed by the Dangote Group in Kenya.
Ruto, accompanied by First Lady Rachel Ruto and other Kenyan officials, toured the Lekki-based refinery following an invitation by Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group.
The visit came ahead of the September 30 groundbreaking ceremony for the Dangote East African Refinery in Lamu, Kenya.
Ruto described the Nigerian refinery as an example of what African investment and industrial cooperation could achieve, noting that the experience would be useful as Kenya develops its own refinery project.
The proposed Lamu refinery is expected to have a processing capacity of 700,000 barrels per day and create about 60,000 jobs, according to statements by Ruto.
The project, which involves Dangote’s participation and support from the Africa Finance Corporation, is estimated to cost between $15 billion and $17 billion.
For Kenya, the refinery is intended to strengthen domestic fuel supply and reduce the country’s dependence on imported petroleum products.
The project is also expected to process crude from Kenya’s oilfields and supply refined petroleum products to markets across East and Central Africa.
For Dangote Group, the Kenyan project represents an expansion of its refining operations beyond Nigeria, building on its experience with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Ruto’s visit comes as Nigeria’s refining sector continues to attract attention following the commencement of operations at the Dangote refinery, one of the country’s major industrial projects.
The September 30 groundbreaking in Lamu is expected to formally mark the beginning of construction of the proposed refinery.
