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· President Dennis Sassou Nguesso launched the construction of a new and bigger refinery near the port city of Pointe-Noire, which can refine approximately 2.5 million tons per year at a cost of US$600million
· An investment agreement was concluded in 2020 between the Congolese government and the Beijing fortune Dingheng investment Co Ltd for the construction of the new refinery, which according to sources is at US$600 million
· The refinery named as Atlantic Petrochemical Refinery will be built on 240 hectares
Faced with chronic fuel shortages, the Republic of Congo is creating capacities for refining more oil at home. President Dennis Sassou Nguesso launched the construction of a new and bigger refinery near the port city of Pointe-Noire, which can refine approximately 2.5 million tons per year at a cost of US$600million.
The refinery, named as Atlantic Petrochemical Refinery, will be built on 240 hectares. This will provide more than 5,000 direct and indirect jobs and will help diversify and consolidate the industrial fabric of the Central African country. Republic of Congo is an oil dependent economy and oil exports are its main source of revenue.
An investment agreement was concluded in 2020 between the Congolese government and the Beijing fortune Dingheng investment Co Ltd for the construction of the new refinery, which according to sources is at US$600 million. Among the various products that the refinery will produce once comes on stream include automotive and aviation gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas, diesel, lubricants, bitumen and kerosene.
The modular refinery with a nominal processing capacity of 2.5 million tons per year, its capacity is scalable and could be increased. Congo’s first refinery, the Congolaise de raffinage (Coraf), has been in operation since 1982. It has a capacity of 1 million tons per year. However, the present quantum of processing is only 600,000 tons annually. Congo’s domestic needs for oil are estimated at 1.2 million tons. Congo produces 204,735.33 barrels per day of oil (as of 2016) and occupies 37th largest oil producing country in the world.
