Page 11 - AfrOil Week 10 2020

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil
Algeria brings oil refinery back online
ALGERIA
ALGERIA resumed operations at its Sidi Rezine oil refinery in Algiers earlier this month, after completing an expansion programme.
The refinery is now capable of annually pro- cessing 3.645mn tonnes (73,2000 barrels per day) of oil, versus 54,200 bpd prior to the expan- sion. Its restart was marked by a ceremony held by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad.
Algeria currently has to import refined prod- ucts to meet its growing needs, despite produc- ing around 30mn tonnes per year (tpy) of fuels domestically. Its goal is to start exporting gaso- line next year, and diesel in 2024 after upgrading its refineries, however.
The country’s gasoline production stood at 2.7mn tonnes last year, the refinery’s plant man- ager was quoted as saying by state news agency APS on February 24, while domestic consump- tion totalled 4mn tonnes.
Modernisation of the Sidi Rezine plant began in 2018 and was undertaken by China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Co. (CPECC).
In order to overcome imports, Algeria is also looking to build new refineries as well. Its state oil company Sonatrach struck a deal in January hiring Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas and South Korea’s Samsung Engineering to build the
100,000 bpd Hassi Messaoud refinery. Under the contract, worth $3.7bn, the pair aim to com- plete the plant in the first half of 2024.
The Hassi Messaoud facility will be sited at Haoud El Hamra in the Hassi Messaoud region, where Algeria’s largest oilfield, flowing 400,000 bpd, is also located. The fuels that the plant pro- duces will comply with Euro-5 environmental standards.
Algeria had earlier set out to construct as many as five new refineries, before scaling back its plan to concentrate the Hassi Messaoud pro- ject and another proposed facility in Tiaret.™
The modernisation of the Sidi Rezine refinery began in 2018 (Photo: APS)
Nigerian independent set to commission first phase of modular refinery
NIGERIA
NIGERIA’S Waltersmith Refining & Petro- chemical (WR&P) has said it expects to com- plete the first phase of a modular refinery at the Ibigwe oilfield in Imo State ahead of schedule.
Chikezie Nwosu, the CEO of WR&P’s par- ent entity Waltersmith Petroman Oil (WPO), reported last week that the company had already launched pre-commissioning activities for the first phase of the plant, which will be able to process 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil. In a LinkedIn post, he said that WR&P was on track to finish the facility before the end of the 18-month period it had allotted for construc- tion and commissioning.
His statement has been confirmed by the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board (NCDMB), which reported separately last week that the first phase of the Ibigwe refin- ery would begin operating in May of this year. WR&P had said previously that it hoped to
bring the 5,000 bpd unit on stream in the sec- ond half of 2020.
When finished, the first phase of the plant
will be able to turn out around 271mn litres per
year of refined fuels, including diesel, fuel oil, kerosene and naphtha. 
Ministry officials visited the site last December (Photo: Nigerian gov’t)
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