Dangote, Ethiopia and Djibouti plan $660m fuel pipeline
Aliko Dangote, Ethiopia and Djibouti plan a $660 million refined fuel pipeline from Damerjog to Dewele, expected to be operational within 18 months.
Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, Ethiopia and Djibouti are partnering on a $660 million pipeline to carry refined petroleum products between the two East African countries, a spokesperson in the office of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told Reuters on Thursday.
The project centres on a 120km multiproduct pipeline linking Damerjog on the Djibouti coast with Dewele in Ethiopia. Storage terminals will hold about 375,000 cubic metres at Damerjog and 800,000 cubic metres at Dewele — around 1.175 million cubic metres combined — and the system is expected to be operational within 18 months.
Abiy announced the plan on X during a visit to Djibouti, where he was joined by Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Dangote at a groundbreaking ceremony in the Damerjog Industrial Development Free Trade Zone. It will be developed through a partnership between Ethiopian Investment Holdings and Dangote Group.
Abiy said the project was designed to cut logistics costs and delays along the Ethiopia–Djibouti transport corridor. Dangote said it would “enhance energy security, improve supply-chain efficiency, and create sustainable economic value for both Djibouti and Ethiopia”.
The pipeline adds to Dangote’s growing East African footprint. His group is already building a $4bn fertiliser complex in Ethiopia — including a pipeline, a power plant and a polypropylene packaging facility — while Dangote and the Kenyan government are due to break ground next week on a 700,000 barrel-per-day crude refinery in Lamu.
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