Africa’s richest man plans new Mombasa oil refinery: Why this matters
Key takeaways
- Dangote’s planned East Africa refinery will model his recent mega project in Nigeria’s Lagos.
- At present, West, South and East Africa rely primarily on importing refined petroleum products from the Middle East, meaning they are highly vulnerable to disruptions there.
- Neighbours of Nigeria – Cameroon, Togo, Ghana and even Tanzania, further to the east – are among the countries that have turned to Nigeria as supplies from the Middle East dry up.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Dangote’s planned East Africa refinery will model his recent mega project in Nigeria’s Lagos.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo President and chief executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, looks on near an oil vessel at the loading and discharging point of the Dangote refinery near Lagos, Nigeria, on April 6, 2026 [Sodiq Adelakun/Reuters]By Shola Lawal Published On 12 May 202612 May 2026After successfully launching Nigeria’s only operational oil refinery in 2024, billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote has set his sights on East Africa as the next location for another mega refinery project, according to recent reports.
It comes as African countries are actively seeking ways to make energy more secure, following huge global disruptions amid the US and Israel’s war on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas is shipped.