Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is looking at Kenya as the ​site of a 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery that ‌he intends to build in East Africa, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing an interview with him.

“I’m leaning more ​towards Mombasa because Mombasa has a much ​larger, deeper port,” Dangote said in the interview.

The report ⁠comes after Kenyan President William Ruto said last ​month that East African countries were discussing plans for a ​joint oil refinery at the Tanzanian port of Tanga that is modeled on Nigeria’s Dangote operation.

However, Dangote in the interview compared Kenya’s Mombasa to ​Tanzania’s Tanga port, and said, “Kenyans consume more. It’s ​a bigger economy.”

“The ball is in the hands of President Ruto,” ‌he ⁠said. “Whatever President Ruto says is what I’ll do,” he added.

Dangote estimated it would cost $15 billion to $17 billion to build the refinery, the FT report said.

East Africa ​currently imports ​all of ⁠its refined petroleum products, mainly from the Middle East, leaving the region vulnerable ​to the supply disruptions and price spikes that have been ​seen ⁠during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, at an infrastructure summit in Nairobi last month, ⁠said ​he could replicate his 650,000-barrel-a-day Nigerian refinery ​in East Africa, provided governments in the region supported the initiative.

REUTERS