Nine proposals from national and foreign companies, out of the 15 that were submitted to the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Petroleum (Mirempt), for the construction of the Soyo Refinery, in the northern Zaire Province, were accepted and are currently being evaluated.

Based on the international public tender, launched on October 24, 31 companies expressed interest in participating in the tender, but only 15 submitted proposals for the construction of the refinery that will have a capacity to process 100,000 barrels of oil / day.

Proposals from SDRC, JIANGSU SINOCHEM CONSTRUCTION, CO, QUANTEN CONSORTIUM, CME, AIDA and VSF, TOBAKA, INVESTMENT GROUP, ATIS NEBEST-ANGOLA, SATAREM, GEMCORP CAPITAL and CPP are being evaluated.

The 5th and 6th of March are reserved for analysis of the proposals, while the announcement of the winner is scheduled for the 31st of the same month, according to the Mirempt’s chronogram of actions.

The public tender, authorized by Presidential Decree 150/19 of 16 August, aims to meet the domestic needs in the production of oil products in the country.

Despite being the second largest producer of crude oil in sub-Saharan Africa, with a production of 1.4 million barrels/day, Angola imported 69 percent of liquid refined fuel in the fourth quarter of last year, while 31 percent was refined in the country, mainly by the Luanda Refinery (29%).

Speaking to the press, at the opening of the proposals for the construction of the Soyo refinery, the secretary of State for Petroleum, José Barroso, said that in the process of delivering the proposals, which ended last Thursday (30), 15 were delivered and nine of them have been validated and will be evaluated in a thirty-day period.

It is expected that in the period of three to four years the  refinery will be completed.

When justifying the Executive’s intention, he underlined that the Government’s objective is to implement a 100 percent private refinery, with a capacity to process 100,000 barrels/day.

Source: Staff