Africa’s richest man expands fuel empire into Kenya

Aliko Dangote plans to invest $1.5 billion in expanding the network as he builds a second major refinery

Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has bought a roughly 25% stake in Kenya’s fuel pipeline operator as part of a wider push to expand petroleum distribution across the continent.

The Nigerian industrialist announced the acquisition at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London on Wednesday. Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) operates pipelines and storage facilities supplying Kenya and other regional markets.

“We bought 25% of their pipeline network for the distribution of petroleum products,” Dangote said.

The purchase involved 4.5 billion KPC shares worth $335 million, bought at a slight premium to the last-traded price, the FT reported. Dangote said the acquisition and planned network expansion formed part of a continent-wide fuel distribution strategy. “We are going very aggressively with that,” he said.

Dangote also plans to invest $1.5 billion in expanding the pipeline network as part of a wider African refining, storage, and distribution business, the FT reported.

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KPC operates about 1,342 km of pipelines transporting refined petroleum products inland from the port of Mombasa. Its infrastructure supports supplies to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and eastern DR Congo.

Kenyan President William Ruto said on Tuesday that private investors had acquired a quarter of KPC from public entities, without identifying the buyers. The government sold a 65% stake through an IPO earlier this year to raise revenue, with the company listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange in March.

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The purchase follows the September 30 groundbreaking for Dangote’s planned 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Kenya’s coastal Lamu County. The project is intended to supply the wider East African market and is scheduled for completion in 2030.

Dangote already operates Africa’s largest refinery near Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. The roughly $20 billion facility began commercial operations in 2024, helping the country reduce its reliance on imported fuel. In September, the company launched a $1.6 billion public offering to help finance an expansion intended to double its capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day.