Page 15 - DMEA Week 38

DMEA REFINING DMEA

Cabinda refinery site

cleared of mines

ANGOLA THE Cabinda oil refinery in Angola has secured the Cabinda refinery, but it terminated the deal
a certificate stating the area is mine-free, opera- in December, citing the group’s failure to prove
This paves the way for tor Sonangol has said, paving the way for con- it had the financial capability to see the project
construction to begin. struction to begin. through. It then selected Gemcorp in January.
The 1.3-km site some 30 km from Cabinda Angola currently only has one working refin-
city was cleared of landmines in an operation ery – a 65,000 bpd plant in its capital Luanda
involving the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) that can only cover around 20% of national fuel
and the National Demining Institute (INAD). demand. Its fuel imports amounted to 2.97mn
Angola is one of the most heavily mined coun- tonnes last year.
tries in the world, as a result of its 27-year civil The government has plans for two more refin-
war that ran until 2002. eries on its coast at Soyo and Lobito. The Lobito
The $500mn Cabinda project is a joint ven- refinery is the largest of the planned plants with a
ture between Sonangol and London-based capacity of 200,000 bpd. But it has suffered years
investment firm Gemcorp, which won a ten- of delays because of high costs and questions
der to help build the plant earlier this year. The about its feasibility.
refinery will process 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) A tender was held earlier this year for the
of oil by the end of 2021 under its first stage of 100,000 bpd Soyo oil refinery and a winner was
development. due to be revealed in March, but the announce-
Gemcorp said in early June that it would take ment was delayed because of the coronavirus
a final investment decision (FID) on the project (COVID-19) pandemic. Of the 31 interested
by the end of that month, and begin construction companies, 15 filed bids and nine of those offers
in August. But neither of those milestones have were deemed valid. They are competing for a
been reached, and the reason for the delay has contract to construct the plant by 2024 on a
not been disclosed. build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
Under its second phase, output at the Cabinda Angola has also hired Kinetics Technology, a
refinery is due to reach 60,000 bpd. The plant will subsidiary of Italy’s Maire Tecnimont, as an engi-
also feature a reformer that can convert straight- neering, procurement and construction (EPC)
run naphtha into gasoline. Its third phase will contractor to refurbish the Luanda refinery.
see the construction of a hydrocarbon treater to Under a $200mn contract, Kinetics will install
process heavy fuel into gas oil by the end of 2023. a naphtha hydrotreater and a catalytic reformer.
Sonangol awarded a contract to Hong Kong- These additions will quadruple its gasoline out-
based consortium United Shine last year to build put to 400,000 tonnes per year (tpy). ™

Week 38 24•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15