NAIROBI, Apr 23 (THE AFRICAN PORTAL) – President William Ruto has announced that the Kenyan government is moving to invest in Uganda’s oil refinery industry, in a strategic regional energy play following the successful privatisation and partial regional uptake of the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).
Speaking on Thursday during the Africa We Build Summit 2026 in Nairobi, Ruto said Kenya is now ready to deepen its economic integration with Uganda, particularly in the petroleum sector, after what he described as ‘strong mutual trust’ demonstrated through cross-border investments.
“Mzee, I want to assure you that the same way you invested in Kenya Pipeline, Kenya is going to invest in your refinery and the future of our resources together,” Ruto said, indicating yet another phase of energy cooperation between the two countries.
The Ugandan refinery project based in Hoima is estimated to cost about USD 4 billion, equivalent to roughly Ksh 500 billion, making it one of the largest industrial energy investments in the East African region.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni welcomed the idea, describing it as a noble one that will go a long way to ensure that the region maximises the value addition of its yet to be fully tapped raw oil deposits.
The announcement comes just weeks after Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi confirmed that the KPC Initial Public Offering raised Ksh106.7 billion, with both local and regional investors taking up shares in the privatised infrastructure giant.
According to the Treasury, Kenyan investors acquired 7.9 billion shares, while regional neighbours led by Uganda and Rwanda collectively purchased about 3.8 billion shares, pointing to the strong East African Community participation in the strategic infrastructure.
Mbadi noted that Uganda and Rwanda had shown particularly strong interest in the IPO, with Rwanda’s pension funds among key institutional buyers, while Uganda was initially interested in a larger stake, but some allocations were scaled back due to oversubscription.
Despite the strong regional uptake, the Kenyan government retained a 35 per cent controlling stake in KPC, while the East African Community bloc now holds about 21.22 per cent of the company.
All these come at a time when Kenya is accelerating its own upstream oil ambitions, with progress on the South Lokichar Basin project in Turkana County, where the government expects first oil production by December 2026.
The project received a major boost after Kenya acquired a Ksh 1.9 billion drilling rig from the United Arab Emirates, with Gulf Energy E&P BV leading operations following Tullow Oil’s exit from the basin.
Treasury projects that South Lokichar could yield up to 585 million barrels of recoverable reserves, potentially generating about Ksh135 billion in government revenue once commercial production begins.
Credit: Kenyans.co.ke
