An Indian state-owned engineering firm has secured a contract worth more than Ksh58 billion to provide project management and engineering services for Dangote Group's planned 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery and petrochemical plant in Kenya.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The firm, which operates under India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, announced that it had received a contract worth more than Ksh58 billion from Dangote Group for the planned greenfield project.

Under the agreement, the Indian firm will serve as the Project Management Consultant and Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management consultant for the refinery and petrochemical complex.

Its responsibilities will include overseeing project planning, engineering, procurement and construction management, as well as coordinating contractors and monitoring costs, timelines, quality and safety during the development of the facility.

📌 What You Need to Know

The Ksh58 billion contract covers the consultancy, engineering and project management work and should not be confused with the overall cost of constructing the refinery. The wider project has previously been estimated at $17 billion, equivalent to more than Ksh2 trillion.

The planned refinery is being built in Lamu and is expected to have a processing capacity of 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day, placing it among the largest refinery projects planned in Africa and giving Kenya a potential major role in regional petroleum supply.

The Indian firm was brought into the Kenyan project partly because of its existing working relationship with Dangote Group on major projects in Nigeria; it also previously served as the Project Management Consultant and Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management consultant for Dangote's 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery and petrochemical complex at Lekki, which has since been commissioned.

The firm is also involved in the expansion of the Nigerian refinery to 1.4 million barrels per day under a separate engineering a nd project management mandate, and has undertaken other major projects for Dangote Group, including work on a four-train fertiliser plant.

Dangote's statement in the exchange filing highlighted the existing relationship, saying, “Believing in EIL’s Engineering and Project Management excellence, the Dangote Group has once again joined hands with EIL… for this prestigious Kenya Project.”

The newly announced contract therefore represents the firm's formal entry into the Kenyan refinery project, rather than an existing assignment it had already been carrying out in Kenya.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke