Engineers India Ltd. (EIL) has secured a contract worth more than $450 million to deliver project management consultancy (PMC) and EPCM services for Dangote's proposed 700,000-b/d grassroots integrated refinery and petrochemical complex at Mokowe, Lamu County, Kenya.

Dangote Group subsidiary Dangote East Africa Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals SEZ is developing the project. EIL disclosed the award in separate regulatory filings to BSE Ltd. and The National Stock Exchange of India Ltd., confirming its dual role as PMC and EPCM consultant for the Kenyan scheme.

The contract marks a repeat collaboration between the two companies. EIL previously served as PMC-EPCM consultant for Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE's 650,000-b/d refinery and petrochemical complex in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, Nigeria — a plant now undergoing expansion to 1.4 million b/d.

Where will the Lamu complex sit?

Developers have sited the proposed complex near Lamu Port and the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor. The location gives the project a coastal position for importing construction materials and crude, exporting refined products, and connecting inland and regional markets via the transport corridor.

Dangote framed the $16-billion investment at a Sept. 30 groundbreaking ceremony for the Lamu refinery, describing it as a project aimed at expanding refined-product supply in East Africa that will serve markets both within and beyond Kenya.

What crude will the refinery run?

The feedstock slate remains only partly defined. The complex presumably will process Kenya's domestic crude production, including volumes from the South Lokichar basin, which could begin production before December 2026 at a rate of about 20,000 b/d, according to the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in an Oct. 1 release.

Afreximbank said the integrated complex also will process crude sourced from other African producers, including Uganda. At roughly 20,000 b/d of initial South Lokichar output against a 700,000-b/d nameplate, imported African crude would carry the bulk of the slate.

Which technologies are locked in?

The EIL award joins a separate $300-million contract to Honeywell Technologies covering:

• Process technology licensing
• Engineering services
• Proprietary catalysts
• Equipment
• Unspecified digital solutions

The proposed refinery will use Honeywell-licensed proprietary technologies to produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and about 1 million tonnes/year of polypropylene. The companies have yet to identify the individual licensed process units covered by the agreement.

What comes next?

The watch items are execution-phase milestones: the individual Honeywell process units still unnamed, confirmation of the crude supply agreements underpinning the 700,000-b/d slate, and the pace of construction following the September groundbreaking. South Lokichar first production before December 2026 remains a separate — and earlier — marker for the region's upstream-downstream integration.