Page 13 - DMEA Week 11 2021

DMEA REFINING DMEA

New refinery launched in South Sudan

AFRICA BENTIU, a joint venture formed by Russia’s Rafi- this product is mainly used for power genera-
nat and Nilepet, the national oil company (NOC) tion,” he said. “Our aim ... is to tell the world that
of South Sudan, has brought a new refinery on we are able and we managed, despite the politi-
stream in Unity state. cal situation we have been going through. South
Yak Malong, Nilepet’s deputy managing Sudan is here to provide you with heavy fuel oil
director for downstream operations, told report- at any time you request it.”
ers last week that the new plant had cost about Malong went on to say that Bentiu’s refinery
$100mn to build. The facility has a throughput was processing 10,000 bpd of crude oil supplied
capacity of 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) and by Greater Pioneer Operating Co. (GPOC), the
will therefore support the government’s efforts consortium that is developing Blocks 1, 2 and
to raise the country’s oil-processing capacity to 4 in the Ruweng autonomous area, which lies
127,000 bpd, he said. north of Unity state. He also indicated that the
Malong went on to say that Juba had author- joint venture had experienced some difficulties
ised Bentiu to build the refinery because it hoped with respect to ensuring adequate deliveries of
that bringing more refined fuels to the domestic feedstock to the new plant.
market would lead to a decline in prices. “We “Yes, there are challenges. One of the chal-
have come to the market to reduce the high lenges is transportation and storage capacity.
prices of fuel,” he was quoted as saying by Radio Nilepet is doing well and has been preparing to
Tamazuj. face this situation,” he said, without elaborating.
Thus far, the plant has only turned out three Bentiu began work on its refinery in August
truckloads of heavy residual fuel oil, he noted. 2013 and was able to begin test production the
He also reported, though, that the refinery was following year.
due to begin producing diesel, as well as small However, South Sudan’s civil war prevented it
amounts of gasoline, in the near future. In the from starting commercial operations – and also
meantime, he said, it will focus on establishing resulted in damage to the facility.
itself as a reliable supplier of residual fuel oil for The joint venture initiated a restoration pro-
the domestic market. gramme in 2018, but work has proceeded slowly.
“Having three trucks of heavy fuel oil in Juba As a result, Bentiu was not able to realise the
means that all our hopes have been energised South Sudanese government’s hopes of bringing
again. We have the issue of power, and you know the refinery on stream in 2019.™

FUELS

DRC launches pilot LPG project

AFRICA THE government of the Democratic Republic concerned,” he stated.
of Congo (DRC) has launched a pilot project In the long run, Nyamugabo added, shifting
designed to promote the use of LPG as cooking from charcoal and wood to LPG will help pre-
fuel as an alternative to charcoal and wood in serve the country’s forests. “[For] us, as The Min-
order to curb deforestation. istry of the Environment, this project is about
According to local press reports, the project saving our forests in Kinshasa and the provinces
calls for Kinshasa to make LPG available to con- concerned,” he said.
sumers around the country at below-market The minister did not specify the extent of the
prices. To this end, government officials started subsidy or the volume of gas slated for distribu-
the first phase of distribution in the capital city tion under the government’s programme. Kin-
and in the central province of Kongo in early shasa marked the unveiling of this initiative last
March. They then initiated the second phase of year by handing out bottled gas to a number of
distribution on March 6, making LPG available mothers living in the capital city and by offer-
in Mai Ndombe, Kwango and Kwilu provinces. ing LPG cooking kits to consumers at reduced
The government hopes to expand its distri- prices.
bution efforts to cover all of DRC’s 26 provinces At that time, Nyamugabo said that the gov-
within the next few months, Minister of Envi- ernment would be acquiring LPG for the pro-
ronment and Sustainable Development Claude gramme from SoGaz, a subsidiary of Société
Nyamugabo said last week. “More than 50,000 Congo-Italienne de Raffinage (SOCIR), the par-
gas kits have been distributed among the pop- tially state-owned entity that owns the country’s
ulation, saving 250 hectares of forest annually only refinery. He also put the cost of the pilot
by continuously recharging the cylinders sold distribution campaign at more than €1.8mn
and covering about 2.5% of the households ($2.15mn).™

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