Kenya’s Oil Ambitions Meet a New Refining Push at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026

Kenya’s energy story is no longer confined to developing its nascent oil industry or expanding its already substantial renewable power base. In 2026, the country has emerged as a potential hub for both upstream and downstream investment, while continuing to build out the electricity infrastructure needed to support a growing economy, with Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum James Opiyo Wandayi set to bring Kenya’s evolving energy agenda to African Energy Week 2026. At the center of that shift is the proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, which Dangote Industries plans to develop at a cost of around $15-16 billion. The company expects to break ground later this month and complete the project by 2030, with the facility intended to supply refined products to Kenya and neighboring East African markets. The project would give Kenya a much larger role in regional fuel supply, but it also highlights the infrastructure and supply questions facing the country's petroleum ambitions. Kenya does not yet have commercial crude production, meaning the proposed refinery will need to secure feedstock from domestic production as it develops or from producers elsewhere in the region