Nairobi, Kenya
East African airline giant Kenya Airways has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rubis Energy Kenya, a subsidiary of the French energy supplier Rubis Énergie, to collaborate on building the first Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) refinery on the African continent. This historic agreement is considered a major milestone in the African aviation sector’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and transition toward a green economy.
Headquartered in Nairobi, this massive project establishes a framework to jointly manage engineering, financing, and operational activities. The refinery is specifically designed to produce low-carbon aviation fuel from locally sourced waste feedstocks, including animal fats, used cooking oils, and various vegetable oils.
According to official statements from Kenya Airways, this new refinery will utilize modular technology from Dragonfly, a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to have a production capacity of up to 32,000 tonnes of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) per year. The plant is planned to be located near Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, with the primary goal of integrating production directly into the airline’s existing distribution infrastructure to minimize transportation costs.
George Kamal, Acting Group Managing Director and CEO of Kenya Airways, stated that this project directly addresses the urgent need to reduce high carbon emissions within the aviation sector. Kamal added, “Currently, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport consumes 2.9 million liters of jet fuel every day—an amount equal to completely filling the tanks of 52,727 family cars. While we currently depend entirely on imports, this refinery allows us to produce a sustainable, local version of that fuel.”
Jean-Christian Bergeron, co-managing partner of Rubis and CEO of Rubis Énergie, noted that the project aligns perfectly with his company’s global roadmap to deliver low-carbon energy solutions. Emphasizing their focus on creating new opportunities within Africa, he added, “Our priority will be technology transfer and ensuring that training is provided for local skills development so that the facility and associated supply chains will be operated and managed by Kenyans.”
Karl W. Feilder, CEO of Dragonfly—the company providing the advanced modular technology for the refinery—explained that this type of facility can easily be built close to both feedstock suppliers and fuel consumers. Consequently, by utilizing Rubis’s existing infrastructure, they can guarantee a reliable and continuous daily supply of SAF to Kenya Airways. According to the company’s timeline, the state-of-the-art refinery is expected to be constructed and fully operational within the next 24 months (two years).
