Page 10 - AfrOil Week 05 2020

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil
ANGOLA
ANGOLA’S mineral resources and petroleum ministry has shortlisted proposals from inter- national contractors for the construction of a 100,000 barrel per day (bpd) oil re nery in its coastal city of Soyo. e proposed plant is one of three re neries the southern African state plans to build to overcome shortages of petroleum products.
Angola closed the bidding process for the project last week, a er extending the deadline by more than a month “to ensure a better quality of bid.” e petroleum ministry said on February 3 it had received a total of 31 proposals in the tender, nine of which it intends to consider. ey were submitted by SDRC, Jiangsu Sinochem Construction, Quantem Consortium, CMEC, AIDA and VSF, Tobaka Investment Group, Atis Nebest Angola, Satarem, Gemcorp Capital and CPP.
e contractors o ered to build the facility in periods ranging from 16 to 40 months. e win- ner of the contest will be announced on March 31, according to the ministry. e plant is due to start production in 2023.
Africa’s second-biggest oil producer after Nigeria has sought for years to boost its re ning capacity in order to ease fuel and power short- ages. e country currently has only one re n- ery – a 65,000 bpd plant in its capital Luanda that can cover around 20% of national fuel demand. It aims to build three new re neries in Cabinda, Lobito and Soyo, but these projects have faced signi cant delays because of problems nding investors.
National oil company (NOC) Sonangol awarded a contract to Hong Kong-based con- sortium United Shine last year to build the 60,000 bpd Cabinda re nery. But it terminated the deal in December, according to local press, citing the group’s failure to prove it had the nancial capability to see the project through.
Sonangol went on to sign a preliminary agreement on nancing and implementation of the project with London-based investment rm Gemcorp Capital last month, and has said it is
looking for other investors as well.
Cabinda is due to start up by the end of 2021,
initially processing only 30,000 bpd of crude, before reaching its full capacity two years later.
Lobito is the largest of the three planned re neries, with a throughput capacity of 200,000 bpd. e project, with a $10bn budget, was initi- ated in 2012 but shelved four years later because of the oil price crash. Sonangol renewed its search for investment partners in late 2017.
All three re neries are expected to be con- structed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
Sonangol is also seeking to modernise the Luanda plant, with plans to add a new naphtha hydrotreater, a new naphtha splitter and a new catalytic reforming unit, among other facil- ities. It is working on the project with Italian rms Eni, Maire Tecnimont and KT-Kinetics Technology.
The Angolan government is particularly anxious to see progress at its new re ning pro- jects, a er the country su ered some of its worst fuel shortages for years last spring. e crisis was caused by a spike in fuel demand and a shortage of dollars to pay for imports. It led to the sacking of the chairman of state oil company Sonangol, and damaged the popularity of Angolan Presi- dent Joao Lourenco.
Proposed re nery design (Image: Pedro João/ANGOP)
 BTG Pactual, a Brazilian nancial company, is the parent organisation of BTG Pactual E&P BV, which owns the remaining 50% of equity in POGBV.
e latter company has an indirect 8% stake in OML 127, a licence area in Nigeria’s o shore zone, and an indirect 16% interest in OML 130, another o shore Nigerian asset.
OML 127, which is being developed by a
consortium led by Chevron (US), contains Agbami, a producing oilfield. Total (France) operates OML 130, which contains the produc- ing Akpo and Egina elds. Together, these two blocks yielded about 442,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in 2019.
Africa Oil’s purchase of the POGBV stake marked the end of Petrobras’ involvement in Africa’s oil and gas sphere. ™
Angola shortlists bids for 100,000 bpd refinery
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Week 05 05•February•2020