Ethiopia and Djibouti have joined with the Dangote Group to build a $660 million petroleum pipeline and storage facilities, seeking to ease the movement of refined fuel along the trade route that carries most of Ethiopia’s imports and exports.
The partners announced the joint venture on September 24, 2026, alongside a ground-breaking ceremony in Djibouti attended by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Aliko Dangote, the President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, who is described as Africa’s richest man.
The 120-kilometre pipeline will run between Damerjog in Djibouti and Dewele in Ethiopia. Large storage terminals are planned at each end. It will carry refined petroleum products and is scheduled to become operational within 18 months.
The project targets a central constraint on Ethiopia’s main trade corridor. The Djibouti route handles most of the country’s import and export trade, including petroleum products. The new link is expected to lower transport costs and delays, reduce long-distance tanker traffic between the two countries and relieve pressure on current petroleum transport systems.
For Djibouti, the project forms part of a wider effort to develop its role in regional trade and energy infrastructure. Guelleh called the pipeline a milestone in the country’s ambition to become a leading logistics, industrial and energy hub for Africa.
Dangote said the project would support sectors including industry, aviation, transport, agriculture and construction. The company’s participation places the venture within its Vision 2030 plan, under which Dangote Group has committed $50 billion to investments across Africa between now and 2030.
Dangote Group’s petroleum business includes the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Nigeria, which has a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day and is being positioned for expansion to 1.4 million barrels per day. The Ethiopia-Djibouti project extends the group’s infrastructure interests into refined-product distribution along a major East African commercial route.
The announcement did not set out technical engineering plans, name contractors or explain the financing arrangements beyond the project’s $660 million cost. It also left open the future operating structure, revenue-sharing terms, regulatory approvals and the status of environmental assessments.
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