Replies to post #15040 on ERHC Energy Inc (ERHE)

[Homeport]

This is several days old, Mugwump, and already posted, but it may help to illustrate what Angola's up to.
Bests,
Homeport
GoG News: Angola: Lobito refinery onstream by 2010, says SONANGOL exec

Luanda, Dec. 5 (Lusa) - Work to build Angola's second oil refinery at the port city of Lobito should begin next year, as new investors have pledged to fund the delayed project scheduled for completion by 2010, an official said Monday.

Syanga Abílio, vice-president and administrator of state oil firm SONANGOL, said there have been "some difficulties" finding companies to invest in the USD 3.5 billion refinery project.

However, SONANGOL has stipulated that oil firms seeking to participate in offshore blocks 15, 17 and 18, whose licensing rounds begin this month, must become partners in the Lobito refinery, Abílio added.

Increased interest from energy companies in the planned Lobito refinery, which will be Angola's largest with a capacity to process 200,000 barrels daily, means the stalled project should now be operational by 2010, said the SONANGOL executive.

The new refinery is being built by Samsung of South Korea under a deal signed in 2000 and will produce enough fuel to satisfy Angola's domestic demand.

Although the country pumps about 1.3 million barrels of oil per day, Angola currently only has one obsolete refinery near the capital with a 40,000-barrel daily capacity.

FR/CJB.