Africa could become largely self-sufficient in refined petroleum products by 2030, according to Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote, as he prepares to begin construction of a major refinery in Kenya.
Dangote is expected to break ground on the $16 billion refinery in Lamu on the Kenyan coast, with the facility designed to process up to 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Construction is expected to take about 30 months.
Speaking in Nairobi, Dangote said the project was part of a broader effort to shift Africa away from exporting raw materials and importing finished products.
He said the continent needed to develop more processing and manufacturing capacity locally so that the economic benefits of its natural resources remained within Africa.
“By 2030, the majority of African countries will be self-sufficient. It does not matter where it is refined, but it should be in the African continent, on the soil of Africa,” Dangote said.
The planned refinery in Lamu has faced concerns over land rights and environmental impact, including opposition from environmental groups.
Dangote, however, dismissed concerns surrounding the project and said such challenges would not stop efforts to develop Africa’s industrial capacity.
“There are people who don’t want the development of Africa,” he said.
Refinery to Source Crude From Multiple Regions
Questions have also been raised about where the Kenyan refinery would obtain enough crude oil, particularly because several East African countries are only beginning to develop their emerging oil reserves.
Dangote said the refinery would not depend solely on crude produced within the region.
He explained that supplies could come from several parts of the world, including the Middle East and the United States, while the facility would also be positioned to process more crude from countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique as their oil industries expand.
Dangote said Africa could not afford to wait until its population and economy grew much further before addressing its energy and industrial needs.
“Are we going to wait until Africa has one quarter of the world’s population before we start thinking of what to do? We have to start addressing that issue today,” he said.
He also referred to concerns over possible restrictions on fuel exports, saying Africa needed greater control over its own energy supply.
‘It’s Just the Start’
Dangote said the planned 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery should not be viewed as the final solution to Africa’s growing fuel demand.
Although the facility would be significant for East Africa, he described it as only an initial step in a much larger industrial development plan.
“When you talk about 700,000 barrels per day, it’s actually small. For the region, it’s a big refinery, it’s a big investment, but it is a start-up,” he said.
Dangote added that other industries were expected to emerge around the refinery as the project develops.
“This refinery is not all we are going to do there. It’s just the start… You will see the number of industries that will come around the refinery,” he said.
For Dangote, Africa’s wider economic challenge goes beyond petroleum refining.
He said the continent needs to reduce its dependence on exporting raw materials and instead process them into finished goods locally.
“The biggest problem is that we export raw materials at maybe 5 to 10 percent of its value, and then we end up buying at 100 percent of its value,” he said.
He argued that exporting unprocessed resources also means exporting employment opportunities.
“We are exporting jobs, because when we keep exporting raw materials, you are creating jobs out there. And when you buy finished products from them… you are importing poverty, because you are not actually creating any jobs here,” Dangote said.
Source: AFP.
