Aliko Dangote has pledged to support the construction of a new oil refinery in Tanzania as African leaders seek to reduce reliance on fuel imports from the Middle East amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
According to William Ruto, the proposed refinery will be located in the port city of Tanga and linked to Mombasa through a pipeline.
Bloomberg reported that the facility will process crude from regional producers, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, positioning it as a shared infrastructure project for East Africa.
Dangote said his group will lead the delivery of the refinery and complete it within four to five years. He also said the project could mirror the scale and model of his flagship refinery in Lagos, which recently reached full capacity and helped Nigeria achieve fuel self-sufficiency.
The refinery, currently the world’s largest single-train facility at 650,000 barrels per day, is expected to expand to about 1.4 million barrels per day, positioning Nigeria as a potential anchor for West Africa’s energy supply.
Africa produces about 7% of the world’s crude oil, but refining capacity has declined sharply over the past two decades, increasing dependence on imported fuel. The challenge has become more urgent after tensions in the Persian Gulf disrupted supply chains and exposed vulnerabilities across import-dependent economies.
East African countries remain particularly exposed, with some relying on the Middle East for most of their fuel imports. Kenya, for example, recently renewed supply agreements with Gulf-based companies, including Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and Emirates National Oil Company.
However, Dangote Refinery has started to reduce some of that dependence. In March alone, it shipped 12 cargoes of refined petroleum products to Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Tanzania, Ghana, and Togo, totaling about 456,000 tons.
The rise in exports signals Nigeria’s return to regional fuel markets, increasingly as a supplier rather than a major importer.
The new refinery plan supports Dangote’s broader $40 billion expansion strategy and complements regional infrastructure such as the pipeline linking Uganda’s oil fields to Tanzania’s coast. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said his country will also supply crude to the project while continuing plans for its own domestic refinery.
source: africa.businessinsider.
African Energy Council