Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote plans to invest $1.5 billion to expand a pipeline network in Kenya, the Financial Times reported. Dangote’s company bought a 25% stake in the Kenya Pipeline Company, a strategic move that underscores the industrialist’s plan to expand his oil and gas unit into a pan-African operation.
Dangote’s conglomerate was built on cement and food products, but the ongoing expansion of its Lagos refinery and the recent groundbreaking for a second on Kenya’s coast have seen the group emerge as an influential player in Africa’s energy sector. The oil price shock caused by the Iran war has placed pressure on East African countries that rely on Middle Eastern imports, raising demand for Dangote’s fuel products. The Kenya pipeline expansion is part of Dangote’s plan to own a distribution network that includes regional tank farms and other pipelines that will connect the group’s refineries to prospective markets across the continent.