Page 10 - DMEA Week 44 2021

DMEA REFINING DMEA

Indeni refinery restart

expected by year-end

AFRICA ZAMBIAN Energy Minister Peter Kapala has and improving the output and efficiency of its
said he expects the Indeni oil refinery to resume operations.
operations before the end of 2021. Zambia is not currently an oil producer, and
In a telephone interview with S&P Global the Indeni refinery depends on crude imported
Platts earlier this week, Kapala indicated that via the Tazama pipeline, which has a capacity of
efforts to repair the 24,000 barrel per day (bpd) 22,000 bpd. The pipeline originates in Tanzania’s
facility were likely to be completed in the near main port, Dar Es Salaam, and is 1,710 km long.
future. Work on the oil-processing plant will be It has been in operation since 1969.
finished in time to resume regular commercial In May, the governments of Angola and Zam-
operations by the end of December, he averred. bia signed a memorandum of understanding
Following the restart, he continued, the facil- (MoU) to carry out studies for the construction
ity will remain online for about nine months of a refined product pipeline linking the two
before shutting down again. “Zambia’s Indeni countries and improving fuel supply security for
refinery is expected to complete repairs and the latter.
restart at the end of the year [2021], will resume The deal signed between Angolan Minister
maintenance by September [2022] and aims to of Mineral Resources and Petroleum Diaman-
restart operations by the end of the year [2022],” tino Azevedo and Zambian Minister of Energy
he stated. “We are doing all that is possible to Mathew Nkuwa will see the two sides carry out
acquire spare parts and have the refinery fully feasibility studies on the pipeline, a project that
repaired by the end of the year.” may take up to two years to complete. Follow-
He went on to say that Zambia’s government ing the study which has been budgeted at up to
would need to spend about $200mn to purchase $2bn, Luanda and Lusaka will discuss taking a
the equipment it needs to wrap up repair work final investment decision.
at the refinery. The Angola-Zambia Oil Pipeline (AZOP),
The Indeni plant has been idle for nearly a the plans for which have gone through numer-
year. It suspended operations in December of ous iterations, is now expected to cost around
last year to begin a turnaround maintenance $5bn, roughly double the figure quoted around
programme that was supposed to be completed a decade ago.
within a month. However, it has had to revise Also known as the Refined Petroleum Mul-
its timeline in light of persistent technical and ti-Product and Natural Gas Pipeline Project
financial challenges that prevented a late restart, (AZOP), it is expected to run 1,400 km through
missing one deadline in April of this year and the so-called Lobito Corridor, connecting the
then missing another the following September. planned Lobito refinery in the coastal Benguela
In early 2019, the Zambian Development Province to the Zambian capital Lusaka. The
Agency (ZDA) issued an invitation to interested conduit is expected to have a throughput capac-
parties to take up a majority stake in Indeni, with ity of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day
the ultimate objective of upgrading the plant (boepd), comprising gasoline, diesel and gas.™

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