Page 6 - AfrOil Week 11 2021

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

Angola awards Soyo refinery

contract amid signs of progress

Angola’s downstream modernisation and expansion strategy burst into life this week with the award of

a contract for the construction of the Soyo refinery and another for work on a unit in Cabinda

ANGOLA’S Ministry of Mineral Resources and products, and all associated infrastructure
Petroleum (MIREMPET) this week named a including power generation. With Quanten at
WHAT: consortium led by California-based electrical first glance appearing to have little in the way of
Angola’s MIREMPET has contractor Quanten as the winner of its tender relevant experience, the award looks to be yet
awarded a contract to for the construction of a new refinery at Soyo in another ambitious refining project award to a
a US-led consortium to the northern Zaire Province. company that will struggle to bring it to fruition.
develop the $3.5bn Soyo Meanwhile, in a sign that momentum may However, the consortium notes that its “team
refinery. finally be building in the Angolan downstream, members, affiliates, subcontractors and advo-
the UK company developing another new plant cates may include (subject to negotiations and
WHY: at Cabinda announced that it had awarded a contracts)”: KBR, McDermott, Cisco, Berklee
Luanda has tried since major contract for construction work at the University’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy
the mid-2000s to expand facility. Laboratory (RAEL), the US government’s
its refining capacity, but
its efforts to construct Department of Commerce, Department of State
new facilities have so far Quanten leap of faith and its Prosper Africa initiative.
proved unsuccessful. For Soyo, MIREMPET awarded a $3.5bn build, Indeed, US government support for the por-
own and operate (BOO) contract entailing the ject was expressed by the Ambassador to Angola
WHAT NEXT: construction of a 100,000 barrel per day (bpd) Nina Maria Fite, who wrote on Twitter: “A
The strategy is dominated refinery that will come into operation in 2024. strong #USAngola commercial relationship is
by the oft-delayed and According to Quanten, the facility will pro- good for the US and Angola. Congrats to the US
increasingly cumbersome duce “consumer-ready end products such as consortium of companies led by Quanten LLC
200,000 bpd Lobito pro- gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and asphalt, and is pro- on winning the $3.5bn public tender to build an
ject, which is notable by tected from adverse geopolitical events” and will oil refinery in Soyo! $2.5bn in US exports sup-
its absence from recent also employ stringent pollution and sulphur ports US jobs.”
announcements. content requirements. With so much US export credit involved, the
The winning Quanten Consortium is com- consortium is better placed than those involved
prised of US firms Quanten, TGT and Aurum in abortive efforts to ramp up Angola’s down-
& Sharp and local technical services firm ATIS stream capabilities.
Nebest-Angola. Meanwhile, the affiliated Quanten Con-
The group came out on top, following a ten- sortium Aruba won a tender to refurbish and
der process that was launched in October 2019. resume operations at the island’s 235,000 bpd
Between September and December 2020, due refinery, promising to invest up to $3.5bn in
diligence was carried out by PwC on eight bid- Aruba. At the time, Quanten CEO Jeff Myers
ders, with five consortia going through to the told Argus: “We’re going to make this a show-
final round. China’s Jiangsu Sinochem Con- case. Refineries are not going away in the near
struction Co. was disqualified for insufficient term. We’re going to show how a refinery can
documentation. reduce its carbon footprint.”
Quanten was joined in the last round by While the involvement of state-level back-
China National Machinery & Equipment ing is doubtless a major feather in the cap of
Import & Export Corporation (CMEC), Gem- Quanten, in building and overhauling 335,000
corp Capital (UK), Tobaka Investment Group bpd of refining capacity over two projects at one
(South Africa), SDRC (China), Satarem (Swit- time, the company may have bitten off more
zerland) and CHC, and won with a final score than it can chew.
of 31.5. The CMEC Consortium finished sec-
ond with 30.9, followed by Gemcorp with 29.9, Cabinda contract
which won the contract for the Cabinda refinery. Meanwhile, Gemcorp handed out a construc-
Little-known Quanten’s website outlines the tion contract to Odebrecht Engenharia e Con-
consortium’s plans to design, construct, own strução (OEC) to build a crude distillation unit
and operate the refinery, a tank farm and marine (CDU) as part of the project to develop a 60,000
terminal for receiving feedstock and exporting bpd refinery in the Cabinda exclave.

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