Global Courant
South Sudan’s Bentiu Refinery could start exporting refined petroleum products to the East African region by August this year, according to refinery owner SNP Group, a joint venture between South Sudan’s Nile Petroleum Corporation and Russia’s Safinat.
Located in Unity state, the refinery has faced several challenges to become operational, including flooding, COVID-19 and technical failures. However, the refinery’s output has since come online – pumping 3,000 to 10,000 barrels a day and exporting products to neighboring Sudan – while the Group is currently looking to expand regional distribution.
“(The refinery) is operational and in good condition. We have supplied products to Sudan. With the current situation in our neighboring country, we are looking at the East African region. We have already been contacted by a number of companies in the region, as well as in Congo,” said David Galla, SNP Group Vice President at South Sudan Oil & Power (SSOP) (on Friday, currently in Juba). “By August or September, the product will be ready to be shipped across the region.”
This milestone would be important for South Sudan, which, despite having the third largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa to date, has limited refining capacity and imports most of its local demand for refined oil. The viability of these plans is supported by the high quality of the refinery’s production, of which “70% has near-zero sulfur content. This is very rare,” Galla noted.
SNP Group is also trying to build an internal market for its low-sulphur heavy fuel oil, which can be used to generate power, boost industry and reduce the local cost of power consumption.
SSOP is organized by Energy Capital & Power in partnership with the Ministry of Petroleum, South Sudan to unite the country’s energy stakeholders with global investors to discuss opportunities within the fast-growing industry.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.
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