Angola seeks investors for 200,000 bpd Lobito refinery

Angola is calling interested companies and individuals to invest in its Lobito refinery. The public tendering process was launched on Friday by the country's oil minister.

The refinery in Benguela province is projected to process up to 200,000 barrels per day when completed.

According to the proposed corporate governance structure, private investors will own 70% of the company, with state oil firm Sonangol controlling 30% stake.

Angola is building two more refineries (Cabinda and Soyo) as well as refurbishing and expanding the capacity of the existing Luanda refinery. It targets to process 360,000 barrels of oil per day locally. "Our perspective is to have, first, enough capacity to supply the internal market, but also additional capacity so that we can export essentially to the countries in the region. There is an outflow of oil derivatives from Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo, so it is an interesting market," said Diamantino Azevedo, Angola's oil minister. 

"We have been working with our counterparts in the DRC to make the relationship more fruitful for our countries. Already in relation to Zambia, there is a proposal by the Zambian government to study the feasibility of a pipeline from Lobito," he added.

The country is looking to break its dependence on oil imports.  In 2019, Angola imported US$1.7 billion worth of fuel.

Angola currently has a daily production of 1.2 million barrels of crude oil, a volume that could change in the near future as new fields come on line.