Ruto hails Dangote Refinery as “Masterpiece,” eyes $36bn Group revenue

Kenyan President William Ruto has described the Dangote Petroleum Refinery as “a masterpiece of science, engineering and art,” following a tour of the Lagos facility that he said deepened his confidence in the proposed $17 billion East African Oil Refinery and Petrochemical Complex planned for Lamu, Kenya.

Ruto toured the 700,000 barrels-per-day refinery after attending the UN General Assembly in New York.

“Coming here and seeing it for myself, I can confirm that I have seen a masterpiece of science, engineering, and art. To my brother Aliko, congratulations. I always knew Nigerians to be very brave people and go-getters, but I did not anticipate that it was at this scale,” he said.

The Kenyan leader said preparations for the Lamu project’s groundbreaking had been concluded, describing it as a regional rather than purely national venture.

“This is not a Kenyan refinery; it is going to be a regional refinery. We are positioning our continent as an emerging growth centre,” Ruto said, adding that Kenya had secured the required land and pledged to clear administrative bottlenecks.

“The Government of Kenya is 100 per cent behind this project,” he added.

He also praised Dangote’s hands-on grasp of the refinery’s operations, saying that level of detail underpins the project’s success.

Speaking during the visit, Dangote Group’s Chief Strategy Officer, Aliyu Suleiman, said the conglomerate earned about $17 billion in the first half of 2026 and is on track for $36 billion in full-year revenue — double the $18 billion recorded in 2025.

He linked the growth to sustained investment across cement, sugar, fertiliser, refining, and upstream oil and gas, under the Group’s Vision 2030 strategy to build a $100 billion African industrial enterprise.

Suleiman said the Group spent roughly $50 billion on capital projects between 2020 and 2025 and plans to double that outlay over the next five years.

The planned Lamu refinery, also targeting 700,000 barrels per day, is expected to be a “major contributor” to that $100 billion ambition, Suleiman said. Dangote Group has already signed a contract worth more than $450 million with Engineers India Limited for project management and engineering services on the Lamu plant, building on EIL’s role in the Lagos refinery’s development.

Separately, Dangote Group is progressing plans to nearly double the Lagos refinery’s capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day with a new 750,000 bpd crude distillation unit — a move set to reinforce Nigeria’s standing as a leading exporter of refined products.