Page 17 - AfrOil Week 28 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

Gemcorp holds a 90% stake in the $920mn pro- tanks that can hold up to 1.2mn barrels of oil.
ject alongside state-owned Sonangol Refining The second and third stages will involve dou-
(Sonaref), with the British firm responsible for bling the plant’s capacity and adding pipelines
the cost of construction. a catalytic reformer, a hydrotator and a catalytic
OEC is also carrying out construction work cracking unit. Gemcorp envisages the first phase
on a crude distillation unit (CDU) under a con- costing around $220mn, with the remaining
tract awarded by Gemcorp last year. The state- $700mn of the budgeted amount split across
ment said: “The remaining equipment of the phases two and three.
CDU arrives in Angola in the coming weeks, Earlier this year, Angolan President João
to be incorporated into the refinery. In parallel, Lourenço said that the refinery’s output will
several civil and electromechanical works are cater to the needs of the Cabinda province, with
underway [that are] indispensable to the opera- any surplus to be exported to neighbouring
tion of the Cabinda Refinery.” Congo (Kinshasa).
According to plans announced in October Cabinda is the smallest of three refining
2020, the refinery will be built in three stages projects that are expected to turn the country
with the 30,000 bpd first stage to include the from a net importer of refined products into an
CDU, a kerosene treatment facility and storage exporter. ™

Sonangol opens gasoline

unit at Luanda oil refinery

ANGOLA ANGOLA has announced the launch of a new Province intend to begin construction of the
gasoline production facility at the Luanda refin- plant in early 2023 once de-mining of the site
ery, located outside the capital city. has been completed.
The new unit was inaugurated by Angolan It is being developed by the US-based
President João Lourenço, who transferred oper- Quanten Consortium, comprised of Ameri-
ating control to NOC Sonangol. can firms Quanten, TGT and Aurum & Sharp,
The gasoline unit is also integrated with a and local technical services company ATIS
combined cycle power plant that will have a Nebest-Angola. The consortium was awarded a
generation capacity of 5 MW. $3.5bn build, own and operate (BOO) contract
Its launch increases Angola’s gasoline pro- by Angola’s Ministry of Mineral Resources and
duction from 300 tonnes per day to 1,200 tpd, all Petroleum (MIREMPET) last year and owns a
of which comes from the Luanda refinery, where 90% stake in the refinery, with NOC Sonangol
a $235mn project is underway to return process- holding the remainder.
ing capacity to its nameplate level of 65,000 bar- When complete, the facility will produce gas-
rels per day, then expanding this figure to 72,000 oline, low-sulphur diesel and jet fuel. The part-
bpd. The Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and ners laid the foundation stone in mid-May in a
Gas estimates that the project will save the gov- 7-square km plot in the town of Matanga, later
ernment around $200mn per year. announcing that they are working in accordance
A government statement quoted Minister of with a project timeline that envisages comple-
Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas Diamantino de tion in late 2025. ™
Azevedo as saying that building the upgrade and
expansion of downstream capabilities would
improve supply security for Angola while also
reducing the financial burden of fuel and prod-
uct imports, which amounts to roughly $1.7bn
per year.
At present, Angola’s only other active refin-
ing capacity is the 15,000 bpd Malongo Topping
plant operated by Chevron subsidiary CAB-
GOC in Cabinda, which is designed for LPG
recovery. Three other refineries are in various
stages of planning and implementation that
will add a further 360,000 bpd, giving Angola
ample output to become a significant exporter
of refined products.
Meanwhile, the developers of the 100,000
bpd Soyo refinery in the northern Zaire The new unit will quadruple Angola’s gasoline production (Photo: Ver Angola)

Week 28 13•July•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P17