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Aliko Dangote walked Kenya's president through his refinery on Friday, Sept. 25, five days before the two break ground on one of their own in Lamu.
William Ruto toured the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex at Lekki in Lagos at Dangote's invitation, accompanied by his wife Rachel and guided by Dangote and senior company officials.
What he saw is the largest single-train refinery in the world. The plant processes about 700,000 barrels of crude a day, sits on 2,635 hectares, and takes its oil through 1,100 kilometres of subsea pipeline running out to tankers offshore, infrastructure Ruto singled out during the visit.
He called the plant a testament to what African governments, investors and financial institutions can achieve together.
Ruto also said the refinery Kenya is building will be larger than the one he was standing in.
That claim needs a date attached to it. The Lamu plant is designed for 700,000 barrels a day, the same as Lekki processes now. Dangote is expanding the Lagos refinery to 1.4 million barrels a day, which would leave the Kenyan plant at half its size once that work is finished.
The Lamu project carries a cost of 2.2 trillion shillings, about $17 billion, and the Kenyan government expects it to create around 60,000 jobs. Dangote has said it could take roughly three years to build. Groundbreaking is set for Wednesday, Sept. 30.
Ruto wants more than fuel from it. He said the refinery would draw fertiliser, chemical and packaging industries around it, and improve fuel supply and security across Kenya and the wider East African region.
The trip follows a meeting in New York. Ruto sat down with Dangote and Samaila Zubairu, chief executive of the Africa Finance Corporation, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 21, and said afterwards that Kenya was ready to break ground on a project that would deepen local value addition and advance its industrialisation agenda. The Africa Finance Corporation is backing the Lamu refinery alongside Dangote Industries.
Between the two plants, Dangote is aiming at 2.1 million barrels a day of refining capacity.
The commercial question at Lamu is crude. The plant needs regional production above 600,000 barrels a day to run at capacity, against projections of 350,000 from South Sudan, 250,000 from Uganda and 120,000 from Kenya, whose own output is expected to begin towards the end of this year.
Dangote spent about $20 billion and more than a decade building the plant Ruto toured on Friday.
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