Ethiopia, Djibouti and the Dangote Group have unveiled a major infrastructure initiative designed to improve fuel transportation, enhance energy security and support greater economic development along the Ethiopia-Djibouti corridor (Ethiopian News Agency, 24/09/2026).
The project will involve the construction of a 120 km refined petroleum products pipeline connecting Damerjog in Djibouti to Dewele in Ethiopia, alongside more than 1 mcm of combined storage capacity at both ends of the pipeline.
The infrastructure will be developed through a partnership between Ethiopian Investment Holdings, which the statement describes as Africa's largest sovereign wealth fund, and the Dangote Group.
According to the Ethiopian Prime Minister, fuel transported by truck to Addis Ababa currently takes around five days, whereas the new pipeline is expected to reduce the journey to approximately one day. The upgraded infrastructure will also enable Ethiopia to maintain larger fuel reserves and improve its ability to secure supplies during periods of global uncertainty. Given the close economic ties of Ethiopia and Djibouti to Red Sea trade, he stressed the growing importance of stronger infrastructure and more resilient supply chains.
In Ethiopia, EPSE, a state-owned entity, maintains its monopoly on the import of refined petroleum products and manages the national petroleum reserve. While Ethiopia historically sourced a portion of its fuel from the Sudanese Petroleum Corporation (SPC), the ongoing conflict in Sudan has led EPSE to rely almost exclusively on the international market, sourcing primarily from Saudi Arabia (Aramco), Kuwait (KPC), and increasingly the United Arab Emirates (ADNOC) via the port of Djibouti (Enerdata Global Energy Research).
Dangote has also been progressing with several other projects recently:
- In Nigeria, Dangote Refinery announced plans earlier in September 2026 to invest USD14.3bn to double its crude processing capacity from 700 kb/d to 1.4 mb/d by 2029, according to documents published as part of its initial public offering (IPO). The IPO is targeting approximately NGN2,150bn (USD1.6bn) and is expected to become Africa's largest public offering to date (KEI, 10/09/2026).
- Meanwhile, in Kenya, Dangote and the government are expected to soon break ground on a new 700 kb/d crude oil refinery in Lamu.