The Kenyan government is in active negotiations with Nigerian conglomerate Dangote Group to construct an 800-kilometre crude oil pipeline linking the Turkana oil fields in northern Kenya to the coastal city of Lamu. President William Ruto confirmed the talks during a media engagement at the State Lodge in Kisumu, describing the pipeline as a central pillar of a broader 2.59 trillion Kenyan shilling ($20 billion) energy complex intended to unlock Kenya's domestic oil production and process crude locally rather than export it raw.
The pipeline will transport waxy crude from the South Lokichar Basin in Turkana County to Lamu, where it will feed directly into a planned crude oil refinery with a targeted processing capacity of 700,000 barrels per day. The facility is designed to serve petroleum product markets across East Africa. Groundbreaking for the integrated refinery complex is scheduled for 30 September, with full pipeline and commercial operations targeted for 2030. To reach operational capacity, Kenya intends to supplement Turkana output by pooling regional crude supplies from South Sudan and Uganda in addition to domestic production.
Financing structures are taking shape. The Kenyan government has committed 21.5 billion shillings ($165 million) in seed equity and has invited neighbouring states to acquire a combined stake of up to 30% in the project. Industry analysts have, however, flagged potential supply-side constraints: Uganda's crude is already committed to flow westward via Tanzania through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, while South Sudan's export routes run primarily through Sudan — both arrangements limiting the volumes readily available for the Lamu corridor.
In a parallel development, negotiations are underway to construct a 1,000-megawatt LNG-fired power plant at Lamu Port to provide the energy backbone required to support the refinery and associated industrial infrastructure. Gas supply arrangements for the power plant are part of the ongoing discussions, though specific sourcing details remain to be finalised. Together, the pipeline, refinery, and power plant represent one of the most ambitious integrated energy infrastructure programmes currently under active negotiation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The project's scale and complexity mean that execution will require a broad ecosystem of international contractors and technology providers across engineering, construction, and commissioning disciplines. The 2030 commercial operations target is ambitious given the volume of infrastructure involved, but the confirmed groundbreaking date and presidential-level commitment signal that Kenya intends to move quickly from negotiation to procurement. For the Norwegian service industry, the Lamu complex represents a developing opportunity worth tracking closely as contracting structures and equity arrangements are finalised over the coming months.