Ruto and Dangote break ground on the Lamu oil refinery

President William Ruto and Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote broke ground on the East Africa Oil Refinery in Lamu on Wednesday, 30 September 2026. The ceremony formally launched a project that Kenya says will make the region far less dependent on imported fuel.

About 2,000 guests were invited, according to Lamu County Commissioner Stephen Sangolo. Several regional leaders were expected, among them Rwanda's Paul Kagame, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed and Burundi's Évariste Ndayishimiye.

The project

• Capacity: up to 700,000 barrels of crude oil a day, larger than Dangote's refinery in Lagos.
• Cost: about KSh2.2 trillion. Reports put it at $16 billion to $17 billion, with roughly 70% expected to come from debt and the rest from equity.
• Backers: Dangote Industries and the Africa Finance Corporation, among others. Engineers India Ltd has been hired for project management and engineering.
• Timeline: construction is expected to take about three years, with completion targeted for 2030.
• Jobs: the government estimates about 60,000. Some reports give a figure of 50,000.
• Markets: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"What we are trying to do is to make sure that we become self-sufficient in whatever we consume," Dangote said.

The land case

The launch went ahead while a land dispute is still in court. 133 residents, led by Salim Tima Swale, have sued at the Malindi Environment and Land Court. They say they farm and live on the land, that there is no resettlement plan, and that no environmental impact assessment has been done.

Justice Jane Onyango declined to stop the ceremony. She did, however, order that the status quo be maintained on the disputed land until the case is heard on 14 October. Reuters and others reported that this means construction should not begin before then. Dangote said the ruling would not stop the launch but could affect activity on the site.

Why it matters

East Africa imports almost all of its petrol, diesel and jet fuel. A refinery of this size could change that. But analysts have questioned whether the region can produce enough crude to feed it, so some crude may have to be imported. Kenya is already moving Rwanda's fuel through Mombasa under a new government-to-government deal, and has said Lamu could one day supply Rwanda too. Read our explainer on the Lamu refinery.