Page 4 - DMEA Week 12 2022

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA

Angola readies for

refining project progress

After years of aborted efforts to gain traction on the country’s downstream sector, Angola
expects to see tangible progress on two of three projects within the next few months.

AFRICA WORK on a greenfield refinery in north-west- produce “consumer-ready end products such
ern Angola is expected to begin late next month, as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and asphalt.” The
with equipment set to begin arriving at the loca- plant will ensure that Angola is “protected from
WHAT: tion of a similar facility soon after, according adverse geopolitical events” that cause world
Foundations will begin to a representative of the national oil company crude oil prices to rise and will also employ
being laid on the 100,000 (NOC) Sonangol. stringent pollution and sulphur content require-
bpd Soyo refinery in To the south, the company remains optimis- ments, the consortium said.
April, with equipment tic that it will be able to bring the flagship Lobito The consortium comprises three US
arriving at the 60,000 bpd refinery on stream within the next five years, firms (Quanten, TGT and Aurum & Sharp)
Cabinda site in June. after nearly two decades of delays. and one local technical services firm, ATIS
The plant plans are part of a broader strategy Nebest-Angola.
WHY: to modernise and expand Angola’s refining capa- The group was awarded the contract fol-
Angola’s refining capacity bilities, which are currently limited to the age- lowing a tender process launched in October
is limited to the 38,000 ing 38,000 barrel per day (bpd) Luanda refinery 2019. Between September and December 2020,
bpd Luanda refinery near the capital, and to reduce dependence on due diligence was carried out by PwC on eight
outside the capital. imported fuels. bidders, with five consortia going through to
Once realised, these facilities will increase the final round. China’s Jiangsu Sinochem Con-
WHAT NEXT: Angola’s refining capacity 10-fold and far out- struction Co. was disqualified for insufficient
A study for the strip demand, thereby turning the country into a documentation.
development of the net exporter of both crude and refined products. Little-known Quanten’s website outlines the
larger Lobito refinery consortium’s plans to design, construct, own
is anticipated to be Soyo and operate the refinery, as well as a tank farm,
completed by the end of Faustino Conde Pongue, member of the execu- a marine terminal for receiving feedstock and
the year, with completion tive committee at Sonangol Refining & Chem- exporting products and associated infrastruc-
of work seen in around icals (Sonaref), said on March 18 that work ture facilities, including a power generation unit.
five years’ time. would start by the end of April on a 100,000 bpd
refinery at Soyo in the country’s northern Zaire Cabinda
Province. A date of April 28 has been set for the Also this week, Conde informed local authorities
laying of the foundations, with the plant slated to in the Cabinda exclave, where Sonaref is build-
begin operations in 2024, he said. ing another greenfield refinery, that the first
His comments came during a presentation to shipments of equipment for this second facility
the municipal administration of Soyo, when he would start arriving in the second week of June.
noted that the project would involve more than Conde noted that a team of Sonangol tech-
2,000 workers, most of whom will be young peo- nicians was monitoring the preparation of this
ple hired locally. equipment in Houston. He also noted that
Conde was quoted by Angola’s state press another delegation from Sonangol and MIREM-
agency ANGOP as saying that discussions were PET was due to travel to the US in late April to
still ongoing over the lease of the site. “We are oversee testing.
negotiating a space belonging to Sonangol for The Cabinda refinery, which will have a
the transfer of [a] 712-square km [site] where the capacity of 60,000 bpd, is being constructed by
refinery will be built,” he said. “On this ground, UK-based Gemcorp Capital on the Malembo
we will install the refinery and the plant’s support plan, around 30 km north of the provincial cap-
facilities,” he added. ital. It is expected to produce gasoline, diesel,
Around a year ago, Angola’s Ministry of Min- residual fuel oil and jet fuel.
eral Resources and Petroleum (MIREMPET) According to plans announced in October
selected the Quanten consortium as the winner 2020, the refinery will be built in three stages,
of a $3.5bn tender to build, own and operate with the first stage including the crude distilla-
(BOO) the plant. tion unit (CDU), a kerosene treatment facility
According to Quanten, the facility will and storage tanks that can hold up to 1.2mn

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