DMEA: Angolan outlet and Syrian blaze

This week’s DMEA looks at a recent deal between Angola and Zambia to carry out studies on a long-awaited fuel pipeline and a spate of fires at Syrian refineries.

Luanda and Lusaka signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to carry out studies for the construction of the Angola-Zambia Oil Pipeline (AZOP). The deal signed between Angolan Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum Diamantino Azevedo and Zambian Minister of Energy Mathew Nkuwa will see the two sides carry out feasibility studies on the pipeline, a project that may take up to two years to complete. Following the study which has been budgeted at up to $2bn, Luanda and Lusaka will discuss taking a final investment decision (FID).

Plans for the pipeline have gone through numerous iterations but it is now expected to cost around $5bn, roughly double the figure quoted around a decade ago.

Also known as the Refined Petroleum Multi-Product and Natural Gas Pipeline Project (AZOP), it is expected to run 1,400 km through the so-called Lobito Corridor, connecting the planned Lobito refinery in the coastal Benguela Province to the Zambian capital, Lusaka. The conduit is expected to have a throughput capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), comprising gasoline, diesel and gas.

In Syria, a fire broke out at a 100,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in the western province of Homs at the weekend, taking one of its four crude distillation units (CDUs) out of service. The country’s official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted Oil Minister Bassam Tomeh as saying on May 9 that “90% of the fire had been extinguished”, noting there had been no casualties; state TV announced a day later that the fire had been completely put out.

The incident marked the second fire at the refinery in little more than a month, following a fire at another of the CDUs, unit 21, in early April.