Dangote Picks Honeywell for $300 Million Engineering Contract on Planned Kenya Mega-Refinery

Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has awarded Honeywell International a $300 million contract to provide engineering services and technology for its planned refinery in Kenya. The deal makes Honeywell a key technology partner on what is shaping up to be one of Africa's largest industrial projects.

The Kenya refinery, to be built in the coastal town of Lamu, is designed to process 700,000 barrels of crude per day and has been estimated to cost as much as $17 billion, according to a Dangote Industries spokesman. Billionaire Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest person, personally pledged the project to the leaders of Kenya and Uganda as a replica of his Lagos facility. Engineers India Ltd., majority-owned by the Indian government and the builder of the Lagos refinery, had already signed a $450 million construction oversight deal for the Lamu plant, and the Honeywell award adds a second major international contractor to the project.

Honeywell's role is to supply the process technology and engineering expertise that underpin refinery design, building on a relationship the two companies had previously developed around the Lagos facility. The contract underscores Dangote's strategy of enlisting established Western technology firms alongside Asian engineering contractors as he pushes construction forward.