Page 4 - AfrOil Week 25 2021

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

The refinery will be built in the port of Lobito (Photo: WikiMedia)
Sonangol seeks advisor for

Lobito refinery company

Angola’s national oil concern is seeking assistance in the formation of a company to build

and operate its flagship refining project, which willl see a 200,000 bpd plant built at Lobito

ANGOLAN national oil company (NOC) process will allow Sonangol to select its part-
Sonangol announced this week that it is pre- ners for the implementation of the project, with
WHAT: paring to launch a tender for advisory services these partners to hold a stake in the facility when
Sonangol is looking for related to the establishment of the company that complete. This appears to suggest that the tender
partners to assist with will operate a newbuild refinery in Lobito and to may lead to opportunity for investors to acquire
the development of the the financing of the refinery project. an equity share.
facility and may be will- According to a company statement, Sonan-
ing to part with an equity gol will begin accepting offers for the contract Broad plans
stake in the project. on July 9. It will formally launch the bidding Plans to build the Lobito unit in Benguela Prov-
process at an event where it is due to present the ince are part of a broader strategy to modernise
WHY: results of a preliminary feasibility study of the and expand Angola’s refining capabilities, which
The 200,000 bpd refinery project, which envisions the construction of a are currently limited to the ageing 38,000 bpd
has been on the drawing
board for two decades new oil-processing plant in several stages. The Luanda refinery near the capital, and to reduce
and progress has been proposed final stage would bring the facility’s dependence on imported fuels.
limited. throughput capacity up to 200,000 barrels per The programme also provides for the con-
day (bpd). struction of another two refineries in Soyo and
WHAT NEXT: The NOC said it intended to explain the Cabinda and for the modernisation and upgrade
Angola aims to become requirements for participation in the tender at of the existing Luanda facility.
one of the key players the event. It also said it would reveal the dead- Angolan authorities began discussing plans
in sub-Saharan African lines for submitting bids on the same day. for the Lobito project around 20 years ago, but
refining. Meanwhile, AfrOil understands that the progress on the project has been slow.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 25 23•June•2021