Angola's Sonangol plans to build refineries, end fuel imports
LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola’s state oil company Sonangol said on Thursday it plans to wean the country off fuel imports and has received more than 60 proposals to help build refineries in Africa’s second-largest crude producer.
Angola imports 80 percent of its fuel products, traditionally from Swiss commodity trader Trafigura and more recently from top oil trader Vitol.
In a statement, Sonangol said it plans to build a 200,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in the coastal city of Lobito by 2022, and another plant in the northern enclave of Cabinda. No time-frame or capacity were given for the Cabinda project.
The state firm said it had received proposals from international and domestic companies and that submissions were open until Feb. 10.
The two refinery projects come on top of an agreement signed towards the end of last year with Italy’s Eni to optimize the refinery in Luanda over 24 months and get it running beyond its nominal capacity of 65,000 bpd.
“These developments aim to make Angola self-sufficient in refined products, stopping the outflow of hard currency to import these products,” Sonangol said.
Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Joe Brock and Dale Hudson
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