Key points
- The 120-kilometer pipeline will carry refined products between Ethiopia and Djibouti, with operations targeted within 18 months.
- Storage of about 375,000 cubic meters at Damerjog in Djibouti and 800,000 cubic meters at Dewele in Ethiopia is included.
- Dangote is separately building a $4 billion fertilizer project in Ethiopia and breaks ground on a 700,000-barrel-a-day Lamu refinery in Kenya next week.
Ethiopia, Djibouti and Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote plan to build a $660 million refined petroleum pipeline connecting the two Horn of Africa neighbors, a spokesperson for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said on Thursday.
The project includes a 120-kilometer pipeline along with roughly 375,000 cubic meters of storage at Damerjog in Djibouti and 800,000 cubic meters at Dewele in Ethiopia, the spokesperson told Reuters. It should be operational within 18 months.
Abiy announced the deal on X while on a visit to Djibouti, standing alongside President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Dangote.
According to the prime minister, the pipeline will be developed through a partnership between Ethiopian Investment Holdings and the Dangote Group.
Why the corridor matters
Landlocked Ethiopia depends on Djibouti’s ports for the bulk of its imports, including fuel, and the road corridor between them is one of the busiest and most congested in East Africa.
Consequently, Abiy said the pipeline aims to cut logistics costs and delays along the route.
Developers argue the infrastructure will also strengthen energy security and make supply chains more resilient for both countries, he added.
A dedicated products pipeline with large storage at either end would reduce reliance on tanker trucks and give Ethiopia a buffer against supply disruptions.
Dangote’s East African expansion
The pipeline deepens a relationship that is already substantial. The Dangote Group is separately building a $4 billion fertilizer pipeline and power plant in Ethiopia, along with a polypropylene packaging facility, according to Abiy.
Moreover, the group is moving quickly elsewhere in the region. In Kenya, Dangote and the government are due to break ground next week on a new 700,000-barrel-a-day crude oil refinery in Lamu, a project Dangote flagged earlier this month as part of his push to position African businesses to attract large-scale global investment.
Taken together, the Ethiopian pipeline, the Kenyan refinery and the fertilizer investments sketch an emerging East African energy and industrial network under a single private operator, anchored by the Nigerian refinery that already supplies fuel across West Africa and jet fuel to Europe.
Meanwhile, neither government has said how the $660 million will be financed or split among the partners. The 18-month timeline is ambitious for cross-border infrastructure, and the storage sites at Damerjog and Dewele will need their own permitting and construction schedules.
