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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Two American Companies to Setup Oil/Gas Refinery in Cameroon

 
Courtesy of Richard Finlayson, International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)
The Cameroon government has signed a memorandum of understanding with International Refinery Consultants (IRC) (Spring, Texas) for the construction of an oil and gas refinery in the coastal town of Kiribi in the south region of the country. The agreement was signed last week
between the Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Dr. Basile Antangana Kouna, and the President and CEO of IRC, Michael Eppler.
The agreement permits the U.S. company to perform extensive studies for the construction of a modern, high-capacity oil refinery with the draft code name "Cameroon Atlantic Refinery Project." Stakeholders in the project said that the refinery will initially process at least 200,000 barrels per day (BBL/d). This capacity will be followed by negotiations for a second train that will provide for a total capacity of 350,000 BBL/d.
A project profile estimates that 5,000 jobs will be generated in the construction phase, and 1,400 for the initial operational phase and this number will increase as the project progresses. The project will
be financed by IRC in collaboration with a second Texas company Refinery Technology Incorporated (Houston, Texas), with the companies' financial partners under a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) agreement. The overall investment required was not disclosed as studies are currently in progress.
The refinery project also will provide for housing estates, a hospital, a school, an orphanage, recreational facilities, and a training center for local engineers and technical personnel and other
staff.
Minister Kouna said at the signing that although Cameroon has the Sonara (Societe Nationale de Raffinage) Limbe refinery, built in 1981, which currently processes 2.2 million tons of oil annually and has plans to increase annual capacity to 3.5 million tons, having another refinery will reinforce Cameroons's independence as far as petroleum product and gas is concerned, reported the Cameroon Tribune.
"We find ourselves in a position where we have to import petroleum products sometime from very far in Europe with all the consequences of supply, financial and quality constraints," said the minister.
"Although this refinery will be essentially export oriented, it will be obliged to satisfy our internal supply at anytime the need arises."
IRC said that the project can be fully executed and operational in 30 months from the signing of the BOOT agreement, the allocation of approximately 500 hectares of land from the government and the issuing of pertinent permit and authorizations. The project has been designed for immediate implementation, and the site does not necessarily require any initial local infrastructure


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