Museveni led by Ruto (centre) to the Lamu Refinery groundbreaking venue President Yoweri Museveni has backed the construction of a mega petroleum refinery at Lamu in Kenya, but says Uganda will not invest in the project for now.Museveni says that before the Dangote East Africa Refinery project was finalised, he held discussions with Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote, Kenyan President William Ruto and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan about the possibility of establishing a refinery at Tanga in Tanzania.He says he is not aware of the current status of the proposed Tanzanian project and will first establish whether it is still on course before Uganda considers investing in the Kenyan refinery.The proposed Tanzanian refinery is part of a wider 20-billion-dollar Tanga Regional Energy Hub, which is expected to include an integrated petroleum and logistics centre, refinery and storage facilities. The project would also be linked to Uganda through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Dangote refinery in Lamu, Kenya, Museveni said he had advocated for the establishment of more refineries in East Africa and across Africa to increase refining capacity, reduce dependence on imported petroleum products and limit the export of unprocessed crude oil.According to Museveni, three refineries in East Africa would be a welcome development because the facilities could complement rather than compete with one another.He also explained that Uganda’s delayed commercialisation of its oil resources was partly because the country’s development plan had to provide for a refinery to ensure that not all of the crude was exported without processing.Earlier, while addressing Kenyan investors at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Dangote said the planned 40-month construction period for the Lamu refinery would enable it to overtake Uganda’s 60,000-barrel-per-day refinery project.He also urged governments to be cautious about investors who make promises but fail to deliver, referring to what he described as “the Emirati company” involved in Uganda’s refinery project.Uganda’s refinery project has gone through several stalled arrangements, with the government signing agreements with, and later dropping, different developers and investors over issues including contractual terms, technical capacity and financial capability.The latest developer is Alpha MBM Investments LLC of the United Arab Emirates, which is partnering with Uganda National Oil Company to develop the Hoima refinery.Established in 2021, Alpha MBM is a relatively young company in oil and gas infrastructure development, with the Hoima refinery described as its largest project to date.While the company’s track record in refinery development is yet to be tested, it has strong financial backing associated with the UAE’s royal family and is chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum.Kenyan President William Ruto, meanwhile, reiterated that the Lamu refinery has long been part of the country’s plans under the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor, commonly known as LAPSSET.Ruto said the refinery is part of the region’s broader industrialisation agenda and will help develop and stabilise the petroleum value chain in East Africa. He also warned Kenyan government officials against making material demands on investors, including imposing conditions that could discourage investment.The groundbreaking of the Dangote East Africa Refinery has brought closer to reality a project first publicly announced by Dangote in April this year, while also raising questions about the capacity of the East African market to sustain two or three large-scale refineries.The Lamu refinery is planned to have a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, making it comparable in size to the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, which has a processing capacity of between 650,000 and 700,000 barrels of crude per day.Its planned capacity has therefore renewed debate over the viability and potential interaction of three proposed or developing refineries in the region: the Dangote refinery in Lamu, Uganda’s refinery in Hoima and the proposed refinery at Tanga in Tanzania.In his address, Dangote said the Lamu investment was part of efforts to enable Africa, and East Africa in particular, to consume and export more of what it produces instead of exporting raw resources.He urged countries such as Uganda, which have not yet committed to investing in the project, to come on board. He thanked Kenya and Rwanda for moving quickly to participate in the project.By comparison, Uganda’s refinery is designed to process 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day at full capacity, using crude from the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil projects.The remainder of Uganda’s crude production, estimated at 170,000 barrels per day, is expected to be exported through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.-URNThe post Museveni Backs Dangote’s Lamu Refinery, But Uganda Won’t Invest Yet appeared first on Business Focus.