Page 5 - DMEA Week 12 2022

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA

barrels of oil. The second and third stages will engineering and design (FEED) study covering a
involve doubling the plant’s capacity and adding single-train facility with a hydrocracker is antic-
pipelines, a catalytic reformer, a hydrotator and ipated to be completed by the end of this year.
a catalytic cracking unit. In October, five bids were submitted: China’s
Gemcorp envisages the first phase costing LANPEC Technology Ltd and US-based Inter-
around $220mn, with the remaining $700mn national Business Development Group (IBD);
of the budgeted amount split across phases two Gemcorp and the local Omatapalo Engenharia
and three. The company holds a 90% stake in the & Construção; Hull Blyth Manpower, AVIC
$920mn project and will be responsible for the International Beijing Co. and China Huanquiu
cost of construction, while Sonaref owns the bal- Contracting & Engineering Co.; UK-based Lay-
ance of equity. Following a 2020 final investment her Ltd; and GazMin International of the UAE.
decision (FID), Gemcorp awarded a construc- Angolan authorities began discussing plans
tion contract to Brazil’s Odebrecht Engenharia e for the Lobito project around 20 years ago, but
Construção (OEC) to build the CDU. progress has been slow. Sonangol announced
In January, Angolan President João Lourenço in 2019 that it had received 68 offers in a tender
told ANGOP that the first phase of construction for the right to build the refinery, but thus far no
on the refinery would be completed in mid-2022, winner has ever been announced.
giving the facility 50% of its planned capacity. A deal was signed in 2007 with Chinese
Lourenço noted that once complete, the refin- refining giant Sinopec to develop and fund the
ery’s output will cater to the needs of the Cabinda scheme while a FEED study on the Lobito plant
province with any surplus to be exported to was completed by KBR in 2010.
neighbouring Congo (Kinshasa). In 2011, the oil ministry said that Lobito
would process around 120,000 bpd during its
Lobito first stage of operation. Meanwhile, Engineers
Meanwhile, a decision is still awaited follow- India Ltd was awarded a contract for FEED
ing a tender for investment in the largest of validation and review of basic engineering and
the planned refineries, the 200,000 bpd unit at design in mid-2015. BP, Eni and Total have all
Lobito in Benguela province. previously held talks with Luanda about possi-
Sonangol launched the tender during the ble investment, and the Italian firm agreed in late
summer, seeking private investors to take a 2015 to review the plans.
70% share in the $6bn project, which is seen While there remains a long way to go before
being completed in 2025 or 2026. However, this the three facilities are completed, Angola has at
timeline was provided by project co-ordinator long last made tangible progress on building a
Guiomar Correia based on early physical works downstream sector that will help the country
beginning in Q2 2022. increase the value it can garner from upstream
Start-up guidance has now been set at Sep- production, opening up job and industry diver-
tember 2026-February 2027, while a front-end sification opportunities.™

Week 12 24•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P5