All articles in the Refining Gap Section:

South Africa’s synfuels giant Sasol and India’s Essar Group are two of several companies known to be waiting in the wings, as the Zambian government takes a decision on selling stakes in the Indeni Refinery sometime in March 2010.

The government would also, on that date, decide whether to divest the refinery along with the 1,300km Tazama pipeline that brings crude from Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania.

Indeni Refinery has a capacity to refine around 1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of crude, but the current configuration allows separation of only diesel and LPG. The firm that gets the refinery will have to invest money, no less than $l50Million for refurbishing and augmenting refining capacity as its current configuration.

Sasol, which already converts imported gas from Mozambique to petrochemical products in South Africa, will use the refinery to further its petro-product footprint on the continent. Meanwhile, Essar, which has acquired the Mombasa refinery in nearby Kenya,  plans to use the refinery, one of the few inland refineries in Africa, to supply petroleum products to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zambia and even East Angola.

Currently, the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) produced at the refinery goes to Kenya by road. Essar plans to take petroleum products instead of LPG to Mpulungu harbour in north Zambia, which is located on lake Tanganyika, and then supply it to countries such as Libya, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and some East African countries by ship as the lake connects all these countries.

SHELL NIGERIA GAS LIMITED, THE GAS transmission/distribution arm of Shell in Nigeria, has added two more companies to its gas distribution network. Shell said that May&Baker, the drug manufacturer, and Nigerian Foundries Limited, both based in Ota, in the far west of Lagos, were recently connected to the company’s network. Nigerian Foundries Limited is the West African sub-region’s biggest foundry, while May&Baker Nigeria Plc. is one of Nigeria’s largest pharmaceutical companies, with increasing interests in the packaged foods market. Bayo Opadere SNG’s Managing Director, said the tying of the two companies “into our distribution network reflects Shell’s commitment to Nigeria’s industrial development”.

THE RETAIL PRICE OF A CERTAIN GRADE OF petrol, in some part of South Africa, rose to $1.2 per litre in February 2008, a whopping 15% increase after moving up by 4% in January.

The wholesale price of diesel and 0,005 per cent sulphur increased by 10%. In the last one year, the price of diesel has jumped 55% to $1.1 25 per litre. The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin also increased by 10%, while the single maximum national retail price for illuminating paraffin increased by 12 percent. The prices are priced per litres The retail price of a litre of 95 octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng increased to $1.2 per litre and to $1.1 per litre at the coast – new highs. During the period under review, the average international product prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin increased.

RASOUL MOMENI, IRANIAN ambassador to Zimbabwe, has spoken plans by his country’s government, to invest the Feruka oil refinery in Zimbabwe and bring it back on stream. The facility is connected by pipeline to the Mozambican port city of Beira. The report

Iran’s interest in the Feruka refinery comes on the heels of a declaration by Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, that his country has dumped the West as investment allies. “We are looking to eastern countries for partnership, Mugabe said at a political rally. “We are working with Chinese, Indians, Indonesians and others”.