DMEA: Cabinda CDU and Nigerian biofuels

This week, DMEA includes coverage of progress at one of Angola’s new refineries and the focusing of minds on a new fuel plant in Nigeria.

Brazilian contractor Odebrecht Engenharia e Construção (OEC) this week announced that it has installed the distillation tower at the 60,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Angola’s Cabinda exclave.

In a statement issued via LinkedIn, the company said: “We set up the distillation tower of the Cabinda Refinery, the most important equipment of the project. At 26 metres high and more than 70 tonnes in weight, this tower has the capacity to process 30,000 bpd.”

The refinery is being constructed by UK-based Gemcorp Capital on the Malembo plain, around 30 km north of the provincial capital, and is expected to produce gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and Jet A1.

Gemcorp holds a 90% stake in the $920mn project alongside state-owned Sonangol Refining (Sonaref), with the British firm responsible for the cost of construction.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) Ltd visited Kogi State this week as plans formalise around the development of a new biofuel plant.

Part of NNPC’s broader Automotive Biofuels Programme, the plant will process sugarcane to produce ethanol for use as transportation fuel. It will be located at Ike-Bunu in the Kabba/Bunu local government area in Kogi.

State Governor Yahaya Bello received an NNPC delegation led by general manager Dr Funmilola Ale, who highlighted progress putting together the project group.

A deal for the facility’s establishment was signed between NNPC, CONTEC Global Energy and the Kogi stage government in 2017. However, during this week’s meeting, Bello pressed for the host community to be given an equity share in the project. He said that compensation for land acquisition should not be the local community’s only benefit from the development of the project.