Refining & Processing

South Africa open to Iranian investment if new refinery goes ahead

May 19, 2017 | Budget & Investment, Refining & Processing, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa | – South Africa, a net importer of refined oil products, is looking to West Africa and the Middle East, including Iran, for potential partners on a new refinery project, energy ministry officials said on Friday. Energy minister Mmamoloko Kubayi told parliament that the cabinet expects to decide by December whether to build the refinery that has been under consideration for almost a decade. National oil company PetroSA has promoted the idea of building a refinery with a capacity of up …

Italian oil major Eni to build 150,000 bpd oil refinery in Nigeria

May 11, 2017 | Nigeria, Refining & Processing

London, UK | – Italian multinational  oil group Eni’s Nigerian subsidiary Agip is planning a 150,000-barrel per day refinery as part of efforts to reduce imports, Nigeria’s oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said. Kachikwu met representatives from Eni and said agreement had been reached to build the facility in the southern oil hub of Port Harcourt or along the coast in Brass, he said late Tuesday, 9 May. While details of the firm’s new investment were still being worked out, “they have accepted and are …

Morocco gets $3billion offer to purchase its sole oil refinery

December 30, 2016 | Asset Acquisitions & Divestitures, Morocco, Refining & Processing

London, UK | – Morocco’s only oil refinery, Samir, has received a $3 billion offer from an Italian law firm operating on behalf of an unnamed bidder, Reuters has reported. Samir’s management said however, that they would press ahead with plans to seek expressions of interest from other potential buyers. A company official, who declined to be named, told Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu Agency that the offer exceeded the company’s value. A union official in Samir, Al-Hussein Al-Yamani, said that his union was “waiting for the court’s official announcement of …

Ivory Coast to organise debt relief for state oil refinery

October 20, 2016 | Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Refining & Processing

London, UK | – Ivory Coast will organise debt relief for the state oil refinery using public and private funds, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. The Societe Ivoirienne de Rafinage (SIR) is the biggest refinery in French-speaking West Africa and has accumulated debts worth hundreds of billions of CFA francs (hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars) since 2008. “The amount will correspond to the financial need,” government spokesman Bruno Nabagne Kone told reporters after a cabinet meeting. The government was talking to private institutions …

Argentina refiners buy Nigeria’s Bonga crude oil

May 22, 2016 | Refining & Processing, South America

London, UK  | – A 1 million-barrel cargo of Nigeria’s Bonga medium crude oil is expected to be discharged in Argentina this week, the second crude import by firms operating in the South American country this year to secure oil supplies for their refineries, according to Reuters. The new government of President Mauricio Macri is in talks between oil producers and refiners to make sure Argentina’s total output of light crude is processed at domestic plants, lowering demand for imported oil. But because of quality issues – …

Iran, South Africa to build petrochemical plant, oil refinery

April 23, 2016 | Petrochemicals, Refining & Processing, South Africa

Tehran, Iran | – Iran and South Africa agreed to build petrochemical plants and oil refineries through joint ventures. The agreement was reached during a meeting between Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh and South African Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson in Tehran on Saturday. During the meeting, the two sides also discussed oil and energy cooperation, including resumption of crude exports. “Iran supplied 40% of South Africa’s oil imports before sanctions brought them to zero,” Zangeneh said, adding that “we are currently seeking to open this …

Nigeria in talks with oil majors to revamp ailing refineries

March 30, 2016 | Government & Regulations, Nigeria, Refining & Processing

Abuja, Nigeria | – Nigeria is in talks with international oil majors  America‘s Chevron, France’s Total and Italy’s ENI to get help revamping the ailing refineries in Africa’s top crude producer, its oil minister said on Tuesday. The West African nation has been trying to restart its outdated refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna to end its dependency on costly fuel imports. For weeks, motorists across the country have been queuing to get petrol. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, who also heads state oil firm NNPC, …

Shell and Saudi Aramco break up 20 year US refinery joint venture

March 21, 2016 | Downstream, Refining & Processing, United States & Canada

London, UK | – Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco have announced the end of their 20-year US refinery joint venture and divided up a number of US assets between themselves. The Motiva joint venture, formed in 1998, had operated as a 50/50 refining and marketing joint venture between the London-listed international oil giant and Saudi Arabian national oil company. “Motiva’s performance has been transformed in the last two years. We propose to combine the assets we will retain from the joint venture with Shell’s other …