Honeywell lands work on Kenya refinery

As Africa looks to strengthen its energy security from within, a new generation of home-grown industrial projects is reshaping the continent’s fuel landscape

Dangote’s latest refinery venture in Kenya is another sign of African capital and expertise being mobilised to build the infrastructure needed to meet Africa’s growing energy demand.

Honeywell Technologies has been chosen by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE to assist in its Kenyan refinery project in a deal worth around US$300mn.

It will provide process technologies, licensing, engineering services, proprietary catalysts, equipment and digital solutions for the planned 700,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery.

Once complete, the facility is expected to become the world’s largest single-train refinery.

Dangote, Honeywell collaboration

The project builds on nearly a decade of collaboration between the two companies and leverages proven engineering designs that Honeywell Technologies developed for Dangote’s refinery in Lekki, Nigeria (Honeywell powers Dangote's bold refinery capacity transformation).

In a statement, Honeywell Technologies said that Dangote’s ability to draw on these established designs will help reduce the development schedule for the new facility by nearly two years – nearly 30% sooner than typical newly constructed facilities.

“Large-scale refinery projects require a combination of proven technologies, engineering expertise and digital capabilities,” said Rajesh Gattupalli, president of Honeywell Technologies UOP.

“Through our long-standing relationship with Dangote, we have developed proven large-train engineering designs that can be applied to the Kenya refinery to help significantly reduce time-to-market. We will also provide modifications that enable the refinery to process a wide range of crude feedstocks, helping improve operational flexibility and reduce reliance on any single crude source or supply region.”

The Kenyan refinery will produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and polypropylene.

It will also have the flexibility to process a wide variety of crude oils, from light to heavy grades, enabling the use of feedstocks sourced from multiple regions and reducing reliance on any single supply source.

Fund-raising efforts

The announcement comes as Dangote works through an initial public offering (IPO) to raise funds for the expansion of its refinery in Nigeria and the new facility in Kenya.

The IPO worth US$1.6bn is believed to be Africa’s largest to date (Dangote refinery seeks US$1.6bn in Africa's biggest IPO).

The company has also been raising additional funding to assist with its growth plans (Dangote refinery secures US$2.5bn investment ahead of expansion).

“Dangote is committed to expanding Africa’s refining capacity and strengthening long-term energy security for the continent while also serving growing export markets,” said Aliko Dangote, president, Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE.

“Our proven collaboration with Honeywell Technologies will enable us to bring the facility online faster and provide the flexibility to process a broad range of crude oils. Together, these capabilities will help us meet growing global demand for fuels and petrochemical products.”

In its statement, Honeywell Technologies said the new project underscores how proven refining technologies and digital solutions can help accelerate project execution while supporting energy security, supply chain resilience and economic growth.

Over the past year, Dangote announced that Honeywell Technologies would provide licensing, engineering, catalyst, digital services to help boost fuel and petrochemical production and enhance workforce capabilities at the Lekki facility, as well as support efforts to increase refining capacity, optimising existing assets and accelerating market delivery.

The company has also put in place other deals with equipment suppliers ahead of its group-wide expansion (Dangote seals XCMG refinery infrastructure pact).