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Engineers India Wins $450m Contract for Dangote's Lamu Refinery
Engineers India wins a $450m contract for Dangote's Lamu Refinery covering project management, engineering, procurement and construction management.
News brief: India’s state-owned Engineers India Limited (EIL) has secured a contract worth more than US$450 million from Dangote Group to provide project-management consultancy and engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the planned 700,000-barrel-per-day greenfield refinery and petrochemical complex in Lamu, Kenya. The award was disclosed on 22 September, just days before the planned September 30 groundbreaking. EIL previously provided PMC and EPCM services for Dangote’s refinery in Lagos.
Construction is expected to take about three years following the September 2026 groundbreaking, pointing to completion around 2029, although Reuters has reported a 2030 completion target. A firm commissioning or first-production date has not been publicly confirmed.
Why it matters: The award is significant because it puts a defined project-management and engineering structure behind a project that we have been following closely on this platform. EIL's scope will span engineering, procurement and construction management, including coordination of costs, schedules, quality and safety. Its previous involvement in Dangote’s Nigerian refinery also gives the Kenyan project an established engineering relationship rather than an entirely new delivery arrangement.
Key takeaway: The Lamu refinery is moving from project announcement towards execution planning. For the construction industry, the US$450 million award is important not because it represents the refinery's construction cost, but because it signals the start of the engineering, procurement and project-management work that will underpin the much larger US$15–17 billion development. The next developments to watch are detailed engineering, major equipment procurement, EPC/package awards and associated infrastructure.
