Page 13 - DMEA Week 40 2021

DMEA REFINING DMEA

More details emerge as Libya

begins work on refinery

AFRICA THE Libyan government and the National Oil 55 km to the east of the oilfield, with a larger,
Corp. (NOC) announced this week that work 300,000 bpd unit to be built in the northern
has begun on constructing a new refinery near coastal city of Tobruk.
the country’s El Sharara oilfield, providing fur- The units were intended to cater to local
ther information about the planned facility. fuel demand. Reports have also suggested that
During a ceremony at NOC’s headquarters in the city of Sebha, to the east of Awbari, is the
Tripoli, the company’s chairman Mustafa Sanalla location.
said that the so-called South Refinery would be Meanwhile, unity government Prime Min-
completed and come on stream within the next ister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said: “The financial
three years, noting that it would cost around coverage is ready for this project and the spec-
$500-600mn. Sanalla noted that the facility was ifications and technical designs are ready with
expected to achieve an annual income of $75mn. NOC.”
The refinery will be run by NOC subsidiary He added: “Today we announce the start of a
Zallaf Co. to produce LPG, jet fuel and other giant step, the actual start of the construction of
products, including 1.4mn litres per day of gaso- an oil refinery project in the south, [for] which
line and 1.1mn litres per day of diesel. the people of the region have been waiting for
The precise location and full throughput many years.”
capacity have not yet been revealed, but plans Libya’s current refining slate comprises facili-
have previously been announced for the con- ties at Ras Lanuf (220,000 bpd), Zawiya (120,000
struction of a 50,000 barrel per day (bpd) unit bpd), Tobruk (20,000 bpd) and Sarir (10,000
near El Sharara. UK-based Petrofac previously bpd), all of which are operated by the National
carried out a feasibility study, which it updated Oil Corp. (NOC).
in 2020. Operations at each of these, like those at the
In 2013, then Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said country’s oilfields and terminals, have been dis-
that the plant would be built in Awbari, around rupted at various points over the past decade.™

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