{"id":7142,"date":"2026-07-11T07:34:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/?p=7142"},"modified":"2026-07-11T07:34:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:34:54","slug":"kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/economy\/kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu","title":{"rendered":"Kenyan President: The Largest Oil Refinery in East Africa Will Proceed in Lamu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Kenyan President, William Ruto, stated that &#8220;plans for what is expected to become the largest oil refinery in East Africa are ready to move forward&#8221; following discussions with Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote. He added that the project will create approximately 60,000 jobs for Kenyan youth.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during the launch of the second phase of the government\u2019s youth empowerment program, Ruto mentioned that he reached an agreement with Dangote to proceed with the refinery project, which will be built in the coastal Lamu County, about 470 kilometers (292 miles) southeast of the capital, Nairobi.<\/p>\n<p>Ruto said, &#8220;Kenya will now build an East African refinery here in Lamu, where we will need 60,000 young people to work.&#8221; He added, &#8220;I have spoken with investor Aliko Dangote, and we agreed that the refinery will not only serve Kenya but will also serve Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, creating job opportunities for our youth.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ruto stated that the refinery will position Kenya as a regional energy hub by supplying markets across East and Central Africa with petroleum products while reducing the region&#8217;s dependence on imported refined fuel.<\/p>\n<p>This project follows Dangote Industries&#8217; decision to establish the refinery in Lamu, ending months of speculation about whether it would be built in Kenya or Tanzania.<\/p>\n<p>The planned refinery, with a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, is expected to become the largest in East Africa and support industrial growth along the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor, a major regional infrastructure project linking Kenya&#8217;s coast with neighboring countries.<\/p>\n<p>The company stated that construction is expected to take about 30 months once work begins. Lamu was chosen due to its strategic location on the Indian Ocean, its deep-water port, and its proximity to transport corridors serving many landlocked countries in East and Central Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kenyan President, William Ruto, stated that &#8220;plans for what is expected to become the largest oil refinery in East Africa are ready to move forward&#8221; following discussions with Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote. He added that the project will create approximately 60,000 jobs for Kenyan youth. Speaking during the launch of the second phase of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":7143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kenyan President: The Largest Oil Refinery in East Africa Will Proceed in Lamu - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Kenyan President, William Ruto, stated that &quot;plans for what is expected to become the largest oil refinery in East Africa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/economy\/kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kenyan President: The Largest Oil Refinery in East Africa Will Proceed in Lamu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Kenyan President, William Ruto, stated that &quot;plans for what is expected to become the largest oil refinery in East Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/economy\/kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Africa Press English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-11T07:34:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/Kenyan-President-The-Largest-Oil-Refinery-in-East-Africa-Will-Proceed-in-Lamu.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/economy\/kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/economy\/kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kenyan President: The Largest Oil Refinery in East Africa Will Proceed in Lamu\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-11T07:34:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/economy\/kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu\"},\"wordCount\":317,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/economy\/kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/07\/Kenyan-President-The-Largest-Oil-Refinery-in-East-Africa-Will-Proceed-in-Lamu.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/economy\/kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/economy\/kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/economy\/kenyan-president-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-east-africa-will-proceed-in-lamu\",\"name\":\"Kenyan President: The Largest Oil Refinery in East Africa Will Proceed in Lamu - 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