MUSEVENI: Uganda yet to commit to Dangote’s Lamu refinery

What the report says

President Yoweri Museveni has said Uganda is not ready to invest in the proposed Dangote East Africa Refinery in Lamu, Kenya, even as he backed the broader plan for more petroleum refining capacity in the region. The remarks were reported by The Independent Uganda from Lamu, where Museveni attended the groundbreaking for the refinery. He said Uganda would first want clarity on the status of a separate refinery proposal in Tanga, Tanzania, before deciding whether to join the Kenyan project.

According to the report, Museveni said he had previously discussed refinery options with Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote and the presidents of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda’s neighbours as part of efforts to expand refining across East Africa. He argued that multiple refineries could complement each other, reduce reliance on imported fuel and limit the export of crude oil without processing.

The article also places Uganda’s position in the context of its own long-delayed Hoima refinery project, which is planned at 60,000 barrels per day and is now being developed with Alpha MBM Investments LLC of the United Arab Emirates. The story notes that Uganda’s oil strategy has been shaped by the need to include domestic refining, while the remainder of its crude is expected to move through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.

The Lamu project is described as a much larger facility, planned at 700,000 barrels per day, and part of Kenya’s LAPSSET corridor. The report says the size and timing of the project have revived debate over whether East Africa can support several large refineries at once.