Cabinda, Angola, Sept. 1, 2025 (Lusa) - The Angolan president, João Lourenço, said on Monday at the inauguration of the Cabinda oil refinery that with the conclusion of the Soyo refinery, "which is facing constraints," and the Lobito refinery, the country should achieve self-sufficiency in refined products.
João Lourenço was speaking to journalists today after the inauguration ceremony of the Cabinda refinery, an investment of more than US$473 million (€404.8 million).
The Angolan head of state recalled that, in addition to this refinery, which has an installed capacity to process 60,000 barrels of oil, but which in the initial phase will only process 30,000 barrels, the country will also have refineries in Soyo, in Zaire province, and Lobito, in Benguela province.
Without giving any timescales for the completion of these infrastructures, he admitted that the Soyo refinery is facing some constraints, but assured that the authorities have not given up on building the project.
"We haven't given up on building this refinery [in Soyo], what we're doing is getting the investor to overcome the existing constraints. Then there's the large refinery in Lobito, which is an old project, started a long time ago, which was also paralysed for a good few years," he told journalists.
The Angolan government decided to resume work on the Soyo refinery because, the President emphasised, "the great hope is that this [when completed], together with the Lobito refinery, will bring the country its longed-for self-sufficiency in the production of refined products".
The Cabinda refinery, a partnership between Gemcorp Angola (90%) and Angolan state company Sonangol (10%), located in the commune of Malembo, in the municipality of Tando-Zinze, 30 kilometres from the capital of Cabinda province, will produce diesel, jet fuel, fuel and naphtha "ensuring domestic supply, reducing dependence on imports and creating surpluses for export," according to the authorities.
With a total investment of US$473 million, of which US$335 million came from international funding, the industrial enterprise, considered "one of the strategic pillars of the Angolan oil industry and a symbol of confidence in the future", has already created 3,300 direct jobs.
At the press conference, which was interrupted twice due to a power cut, while the Angolan president was speaking, João Lourenço also recognised that the country could even export refined products, especially to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"Let it be an export to the DRCongo in the true sense of the word and not fuel smuggling, which is not an export, we incentivise and encourage exports if we have sufficient production, but let it be done for the benefit of both countries," he said.
João Lourenço also said that the Angolan government had approved tax incentives for Gemcorp in 2021 to boost the nascent oil refining industry, like the refinery in Cabinda, and that there could be incentives for investors in the Lobito refinery.
After a ribbon-cutting signalling the inauguration of the project, the second phase of which is already under construction, the Angolan president visited the infrastructure and was briefed on its operation.
The Angolan president has a two-day work schedule in Cabinda, which began today with the inauguration of the refinery, the first built from scratch in the country after independence, and then with a visit to the Caio Deep Water Port.
On Tuesday, the Angolan head of state will inaugurate the new headquarters of the Cabinda provincial government and then take part in a meeting of the local government, according to the agenda to which Lusa had access today.
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