Page 8 - DMEA Week 39 2022

DMEA COMPANIES DMEA

Cameroon’s SONARA, Vitol strike

agreement on debt restructuring

AFRICA SONARA, Cameroon’s state-owned oil refining he said, according to Reuters. “This will con-
firm, signed an agreement with the Dutch com- tribute much to the confidence among foreign
modities trader Vitol that will settle $279mn investors.”
worth of outstanding debts on September 23. The news agency went on to say that Cam-
The agreement provides for SONARA to eroon’s government had recently announced
repay the sum over a period of 10 years and plans to call a tender for a contract to build a new
sets the interest rate at 5.5%, Reuters reported. refinery to supplement SONARA’s only refinery.
It serves to restructure and reschedule the two The company wants to build an oil-processing
debts the company owes to Vitol, according to plant with a hydrocracking unit capable of turn-
documents seen by the news agency. ing out higher-quality fuels.
The signing of the deal was marked with a SONARA’s only refinery, with a through-
ceremony in Yaounde, Reuters added. Came- put capacity of 42,000 barrels per day (bpd),
roon’s Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze said has been idle since May 2019. The plant was
at the event that he expected the new agreement taken offline after an explosion in a storage tank
to help stabilise the state-run company, as well as sparked a fire that damaged four production
other sectors of the local economy. units. The shutdown has left the country more
“The insolvency of SONARA posed a risk dependent than ever on imported fuels, and
to the country’s supply of petroleum products, this reliance is both burdensome and expensive
as well as a threat of breakdown of the national at times when world oil prices are high – as they
banking system with regards to the volume of have been this year. ™
commitments at stake,” he was quoted as saying
by Reuters.
Motaze also described the agreement with
Vitol as the first phase of SONARA’s effort to
pay off all of its debts, saying that the company
intended to sign similar deal with other com-
modity traders. Reuters noted that the state-
owned firm, which operates Cameroon’s only
oil refinery and has monopoly control over
petroleum product imports, had racked up a
total of CFA1 trillion ($1.48bn) in debts, includ-
ing CFA261bn ($385.54mn) owed to trading
partners.
Pierre Barbe, Vitol’s director for Africa,
expressed satisfaction with the deal, calling it a
positive signal to the financial sector. “The put-
ting in place of a repayment mechanism is well
perceived by us and the financial community,” Storage tanks at site of SONARA’s 42,000 bpd refinery (Photo: SONARA)

TERMINALS & SHIPPING
Iran seen relying more on its own tankers

as Russia snaps up “dark fleet” options

MIDDLE EAST IRAN is turning to National Iranian Tanker Co. Russia, feeling the grip of the sanctions and
(NITC) to ship more of its oil as a larger share international isolation that have followed its war
of the “dark fleet,” or sanctions-busting fly-by- in Ukraine, has offered price discounts to tempt
night tankers, takes on Russian exports, accord- buyers in far-away markets such as China for oil
ing to broker Braemar, as cited by TradeWinds. that might have previously gone to the West.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 39 29•September•2022