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Facilities of this type typically use oil from mar- the final module will be 20,000 bpd,” he said. “At
ginal fields. that point we will be loading 120 trucks every
Wabote called for at least 10% of Nigerian oil day at peak production, comprising different
to be processed in modular refineries, noting products: diesel, kerosene, PMS, HFO and jet
that each 1,000 bpd of capacity at these plants fuel.”
created 10 jobs. Work on the refinery’s second phase would
Waltersmith chairman Abdulrasaq Isah said begin shortly after production is started next
his company had decided to build the plant month, he said. Isah also praised the govern-
because of “incessant” vandalism of its pipelines ment’s removal of fuel subsidies, as this move
and theft of oil. The illegal siphoning off of oil had helped create a market of its products. “It
from pipelines is a common problem in pover- also [facilitates] our ability to raise financing for
ty-stricken Nigeria. The oil that is stolen is often the next module we will be doing,” he said.
processed into fuels at illegal refineries. A number of other modular refineries are
“The next module will be 25,000 bpd. Then being built in different regions of Nigeria. ™

The refinery will be built on the site of an existing methanol plant (Photo: Atlantic Methanol Production Co.)

Equatorial Guinea aims to move

ahead with modular refinery project

EQUATORIAL GUINEA EQUATORIAL Guinea’s government is mov- of a reforming unit for gasoline production over
ing ahead with plans to build the country’s a period of 30-36 months.
first oil-processing plant, according to Gabriel Initially, he added, the refinery will be able
Mbaga Obiang Lima, the head of the Ministry to handle 5,000 barrels per day of condensate.
of Mining and Hydrocarbons (MMH). Throughput capacity will then rise to 10,000 bpd
Obiang Lima presented the refinery project in the second stage of operations, he said.
to investors earlier this week in Malabo. At the Obiang Lima put the cost of building the
presentation, he noted that MMH’s contractor, plant at $147mn for the first phase and more
Houston-based VFuels, had recently completed than $200mn for the second phase. He also
a feasibility study of the initiative. The ministry noted, though, that the partners had not yet
and its partner, Marathon Oil (US), appointed finalised plans for financing either variant of the
Vfuels to conduct the study earlier this year. project, he noted.
According to the minister, the feasibility The ministry has only taken a 20% stake in
study envisions the construction of a modular the scheme, he added, and will leave the remain-
refinery capable of processing gas condensate ing 80% in the hands of private-sector investors.
from the Alba and Alen fields in two phases. He was speaking several days after MMH said it
The first phase will involve the installation of was preparing to start talks with potential part-
a crude distillation unit (CDU) and auxiliary ners within the next few weeks and hoped to
equipment over a period of 20-24 months, he sign a heads of agreement (HoA) on the project
said, and the second will involve the installation by the end of the year.

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