Page 13 - AfrOil Week 21 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

NewsBase has been unable to verify whether or project, which is one of the four axes of the refin-
not the higher number is accurate. ing sector, and has, in this new phase, [Brazil’s
Quanten envisages the development of Odebrecht Engenharia e Construção (OEC)]
a “deep conversion refinery with maximum and [local construction firm] DAR as partners
uptime, which produces consumer-ready end in construction and inspection”.
products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and OEC is building a crude distillation unit
asphalt, and is protected from adverse geopolit- (CDU) at the Cabinda refinery, which is also
ical events”. Between September and December under development.
2020, due diligence was carried out by PwC on Start-up guidance has now been set at Sep-
eight bidders, with five consortia going through tember 2026-February 2027 for Lobito, while a
to the final round. front-end engineering and design (FEED) study
covering a single-train facility with a hydroc-
Lobito talks racker is anticipated to be completed by the end
Meanwhile, Sonangol held meetings to launch of this year. ™
the engineering, procurement and construc-
tion (EPC) phase of its flagship Lobito refinery,
which will have a capacity of 200,000 bpd.
Sonangol said in April that it had decided to
move forward with the project despite not yet
having chosen a partner. Company president
Sebastião Gaspar Martins said: “At the moment,
we are deciding with which entities we are going
to form the consortium and shareholder, but we
intend to move forward with the project, albeit
with initial funds from Sonangol.”
Meanwhile, the company’s director Joaquim
Fernandes was quoted last week by the official
press agency Angop as saying: “One of the foals
of this meeting is to relaunch the Lobito refinery Thomas (second from L) and Lourenço (R) shake hands in Luanda (Image: ANGOP)

Rwanda’s first cooking gas plant aims to

end population’s reliance on wood fuel

RWANDA RWANDA’S first cooking gas plant can be shifting from biomass energy to clean cooking
expected to start production in a year, the New energy. In one year ahead we expect to have a
Times (Rwanda) reported on May 16. Accord- factory that will be producing cooking gas from
ing to Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, the Minister methane gas,” Mujawamariya said.
of Environment, Rwanda is working with pri- The development comes as Rwanda, like
vate companies “to fast-track studies that will many countries globally, has been hit by ris-
pave the way for setting up a cooking gas fac- ing prices of petroleum products, partly due
tory.” This is the latest step to end the country’s to Russia’s war in Ukraine. According to the
reliance on wood fuel for cooking. New Times, the price of LPG rose to RWF1,400
Mujawamariya was speaking at a press con- ($1.38) per kg in March this year, up from
ference ahead of the 2022 SEforALL Global RWF1,200 ($1.20) in December 2021.
Forum in Kigali, which ran from May 17 – 19. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure,
The forum is taking place in Africa for the first the demand for LPG is estimated to rise to more
time and is being organised under the theme than 240,000 tonnes by 2024 from 10,000 tonnes
“Driving action for a people-centred energy in 2017. Rwanda has a target to reduce charcoal
transition.” consumption from 79% in 2017 to 42% by 2024.
It addressed challenges and identify solutions An investment of $1.37bn is needed by 2030 to
towards realising the United Nation’s Sustaina- achieve the government’s target, said the New
ble Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) of “affordable, Times.
reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”. Mujawamariya said that Rwanda Green
Over 1,000 participants are expected to attend Fund (FONERWA) has so far secured over
the forum that will also discuss clean cooking $200mn to fund green investments. The min-
energy, according to the minister. ister added that Rwanda has opened gates for
“Rwanda is open for green investments. investors to tap into the available green invest-
Some of the investment opportunities include ment opportunities. ™

Week 21 25•May•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13