Newsbase - Africa Oil & Gas Subscribe to download Archive
Newsbase - Downstream Middle East & Africa News Monitor Subscribe to download Archive

Angolan president authorised to offer special incentives for Cabinda refinery project

Angolan legislators have voiced strong support for the government’s plans to reduce the country’s dependence on imported petroleum products. According to the state news agency, members of the National Assembly voted unanimously last week to approve legislation designed to build up the domestic refining industry.

The bill in question authorises Angolan authorities to offer special incentives for the construction of the Cabinda refinery. More specifically, it permits President João Lourenço to grant administrative and fiscal concessions to companies involved in the building of this oil-processing plant.

Angola’s state press agency did not say whether the president was considering any specific concessions with respect to the refinery project. It did quote Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Diamantino Azevedo as saying, though, that the Cabinda facility was being built within the framework of a wider programme that also provided for building additional oil-processing plants in Benguela and Zaire provinces, as well as the upgrade of an existing facility in Luanda.

The total cost of constructing the Cabinda plant, which will have a design capacity of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd), is expected to reach $920mn. Angola’s national oil company (NOC) and its contractor Gemcorp (UK) made a final investment decision (FID) on the project last October, saying that they intend to build the facility in stages. The first stage will involve the construction of a crude distillation unit with a capacity of 30,000 bpd, as well as storage tanks that can hold up to 1.2mn barrels of oil, while the second and third stages will involve doubling the plant’s capacity and adding secondary processing facilities.

According to Azevedo, the Cabinda refinery and the other facilities covered by the programme will allow Angola to use more of its own crude oil to meet domestic fuel demand. Currently, he noted, the country only produces enough refined fuels to cover 20% of current consumption levels.