Sonangol decided to reactivate the construction of the Lobito Refinery on its own. The information was provided by the chairman of the Board of Directors (PCA) of the oil company, Sebastião Gaspar Martins, who informed that the answers they received in the public tender did not satisfy “what was the objective” of the company.
“We are already doing preliminary work, in order to proceed with a series of works that were going to be and will be necessary under any circumstances”, he began by referring, quoted by Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA).
Regarding the public tender, Sonangol’s CEO informed that the responses received were not satisfactory and, therefore, the oil company decided to proceed on its own. However, he did not rule out the possibility of partners emerging later on.
“The public tender, the answers as they came, did not satisfy what was Sonangol’s objective, hence the decision of Sonangol and the sector to reactivate the project initially on its own and later with partners”, he informed.
Sebastião Gaspar Martins also made it known that conditions are being created for the emergence of petrochemicals in the country.
“We are creating conditions for the emergence of petrochemicals in the country. The Lobito refinery itself has already set aside a space for investment in petrochemicals,” he said, quoted by RNA.
He added that they also have “the use of another type of raw material, such as natural gas, for fertilizers” and that afterwards they will “continue to invest in petrochemicals”.
“This is the objective that we have, refining and petrochemicals using crude oil and natural gas, that is the objective”, he concluded.
The refinery will be able to process around 200,000 barrels of oil daily. As reported by Expansão in May, the project will cost between 4 billion and 5 billion dollars, with the construction of the necessary structures to run the refinery being Odebrecht’s responsibility and DAR will supervise.
