Lobito – Candidates for the public tender launched this Friday in this city, for investment in the Lobito refinery, centre-west Benguela Province, have four months to present their proposals to the National Fuel Society (Sonangol).
During the presentation of the competition rules, the company's Director of Strategy and Portfolio Management, Hélder Nuno Lisboa, announced that, among the requirements for participation in the competition, it us included the company's financial and technical capacity and a track record in terms of investments in similar projects.
In his speech, the minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino de Azevedo, revealed that Sonaref, projected to produce 200k barrels daily,
will have the capacity to provide 8,000 direct and indirect jobs in the construction phase and other 4.000 in the production phase, thus contributing to the reduction of the unemployment rate.
He explained that the country imports 80% of the fuel and to reverse this scenario, the Executive is working towards the transformation of crude oil, within the framework of the national development plan 2018/2022, which includes the Lobito refinery.
He also added that the economy in the sector of transformation through minerals, without prejudice to the sector of commerce and provision of services, has in this project a guarantee of stability in its activities, thus increasing productivity and national economic efficiency.
“Contensting for the construction of this refinery is a challenge that will be worth the effort, considering the possibilities of success”, assured the minister.
The Benguela Province governor, Luís Nunes, expressed his satisfaction, stating that the realization of this project is a factor of capital importance that brings with it not only an increase in business volume for the province, but essentially greater job opportunities, especially for the youth.
He took the opportunity to appeal to the future winner of the competition, to give primacy to the local workforce, as it will improve the living conditions of the populations.
“Our province has enormous economic potential and features that favour the development of industry, commerce and transport, and for this reason we have in this project another catalyst for progress, not only in the province, but also in the region”, he stressed.
The activities of the Lobito refinery have been at a standstill since 2016. So far, in addition to the economic feasibility study, the dredging of Lobito bay, preparation of terraces, heavy load road pipeline and some support infrastructures have been carried out.
Angola, despite being an oil-producing country, has only one refinery and uses fuel imports, and new refineries are being built in Cabinda, Soyo and Lobito, as well as the modernization and optimization of the Luanda refinery.
In 2019, Angola disbursed US$1.7 billion to import three million metric tonnes of fuel.
