|
Chad's Chinese-backed oil refinery should
still open in 2011 despite delays due to a rebel attack on the capital
earlier this year, a senior company official said in recent days.
Work on the 60,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery had been due to start
in early 2008 but plans were disrupted when eastern rebels besieged
President Idriss Deby in his palace for two days before being forced
back with help from former colonial power France.
Ahmat Gadam Hogossi, deputy general manager of the N'Djamena
Refinery Co., told news agencies that work on the refinery was under
way. "Work on the topographical surveys has already begun, so it
should be finished in 2011," he said.
The company is a joint venture between Chad's state oil company SHT,
which holds a 40 percent stake, and China's state oil company CNPC,
with 60 percent. Hogossi said the refinery would cost €600 million to
€700 million ($825-$960 million).
The refinery is expected to have an initial capacity of 20,000 bpd
rising later to 60,000. Chad produces 140,000-160,000 bpd of crude,
which is all currently exported. Output is likely to increase. CNPC is prospecting in the Bongor Basin
southeast of N'Djamena while Taiwan's OPIC, which secured a research
contract before Deby switched allegiance to mainland China, is looking
for oil in the south of the country.
Initially, the refinery would serve the local market around N'Djamena,
one of Africa's most landlocked capitals at 1,728 km (1,064 miles) by
road from the nearest sea port in Cameroon, but may later supply
neighbouring states, Hogossi said.
PetrolWorld 121008
|
