Angola may double oil refining capacity by 2025 

The consultancy Fitch Solutions forecast this week that Angola’s oil refining capacity “will more than double” from the current 100,000 barrels of oil per day to nearly 250,000 by 2025.

“The oil refining segment in Angola will see rapid expansion through the middle of this decade, fueled by the Cabinda refinery and the Soyo project,” Fitch Solutions wrote.

They pointed out that this growth in refining capacity “results from the government’s multi-year strategy, which aims to reduce dependence on imports and establish an integrated sector, ranging from exploration to production and refining.”

In a commentary on the oil sector in Angola, the consultancy’s analysts noted that “in 2021, Angola had only one active refinery [in Luanda], which had been the case since 1955,” with a refining capacity of around 60,000 barrels per day.

Last year, Fitch points out, the Cabinda refinery came online, adding 30,000 barrels daily.

With Phase II under implementation, the consultancy predicts that by 2024 the refinery will be able to process more than 30,000 barrels daily.

The Soyo refinery, for its part, is expected to start operating in 2025 and will add 100,000 barrels to Angola’s refining capacity, which would bring the total up to 233,000 barrels of oil, or nearly 25% of the country’s current production, just over 1 million barrels per day.

“We are cautiously optimistic about the timelines for completion of the Soyo refinery. Despite the ambitious start and the delays the project has faced in the past, the US-led consortium responsible for building the refinery has confirmed that the project is on track,” added the analysts, cited by Lusa.

Angola produces more than 1 million barrels of oil daily but has limited refining capacity, so it exports crude and then imports fuel.

With information from Forbes

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