By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Senegalese authorities are planning the commencement of construction of a second oil refinery next year, aiming to boost domestic processing capacity.
The West African nation is also seeking $2 billion to $5 billion in investment for the project, the CEO of state-owned refining company SAR said on Thursday.
The country has received financing offers from potential investors including China, Turkey and South Korea, Mamadou Abib Diop told reporters on the sidelines of an African energy conference in Cape Town.
According to Abib Diop, feedstock for the new plant would come mainly from Senegal’s offshore Sangomar oil and gas field, operated by Woodside Energy, with national oil company Petrosen a minority shareholder.
The field started drilling activities last year with annual output of 34.5 million barrels, or some 4.6 million tons.
SAR, West Africa’s oldest refinery, processes 1.5 million tons of crude oil a year or about 30,000 barrels a day, but faces a domestic shortfall.
“This gap we will cover with a project named SAR 2.0, which means that we will add a second refinery site in order to add 4 million tons of processing capacity per year,” Abib Diop said.
He said by a targeted 2029 production start-up date, SAR wanted to achieve self-sufficiency in domestic supply of petroleum products, as well as potentially exporting to elsewhere in the region.
There is no final decision yet on where the new refinery will be located or if government would take an equity share in its development, Reuters quoted Abib Diop as saying.
“A lot of investors are coming and giving their interest about financing these projects,” he added.
