The parts for the assembly of the plant, which has a capacity of 5 million tonnes per year, are being manufactured, three years after the official start of work on the new refinery by the Chinese company Atlantique Petrochimique, a subsidiary of Beijing Fortune Dingheng Investment.
The manufacturing plant for the assembly parts of the second refinery is located in the city of Shenyang (China) at the manufacturer Anshan Huaxin Heavy Industry Machinery, a partner of the company Atlantique Pétrochimie SASU. On the sidelines of the Forum on Sino-African Cooperation, the Congolese Minister of Hydrocarbons, Bruno Jean Richard Itoua, visited the manufacturer to see the progress of the manufacturing work on this valuable equipment.
Based near Pointe-Noire, the future industrial complex is being carried out in three phases, taking into account the crude oil extraction plan allocated to companies by the Congolese government. This refining industry project represents an investment of approximately $600 million, or more than 350 billion FCFA, for which the financing agreement was signed in November 2020 between the State and the Chinese company Beijing Fortune Dingheng Investment.
Congo’s ambition is to cover national demand before exporting part of its refined petroleum products. The first phase of the project aims to achieve a production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes/year, while waiting for the second phase, which should be devoted to increasing refining and petrochemical capacities. The finished products will mainly be gasoline and diesel, domestic products such as liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene and fuel oil, as well as products used as raw materials for the petrochemical industry (propylene, propane, hydrogen naphtha and sulfuric acid).
The government supports the idea of a modern, environmentally friendly refining project that can meet this requirement and satisfy the national need for quality finished products. The company in charge of the construction had drawn up a detailed local recruitment plan and planned to create 5,000 local jobs. It also committed to building community infrastructure as part of corporate social responsibility, working with relevant authorities to formulate detailed social welfare plans, such as building schools and medical centers, maintaining roads and making adequate charitable donations. It should be noted that after the visit, Minister Bruno Jean Richard Itoua met with Chinese investors, including Wang Zhengquan, Chairman of Ganergy Group, and Lie Xue Quan, CEO of China Oil Natural Das Overseas Holding.
