Top 7 Privately Owned Oil Refineries in Africa

Privately owned refineries in Africa have shown to be viable alternatives to the state-run model in several countries. Many African countries, however, provide particular dangers that make investors hesitant. Even the most hardened private investors can be put off by corruption, inadequate infrastructure, oil theft, and uncertain economic and political regimes.

Five of the world’s top 30 oil-producing countries are located in Africa. In 2019, the continent produced more than 7.9 million barrels per day, accounting for around 9.6% of global output. This amount of production is lower than the peak of 2005 and 2010 when Africa produced over 10 million barrels per day. Lower global oil prices were largely to blame for the huge output decreases between 2010 and 2015.

Between 2015 and 2019, output remained stable. The worldwide financial crisis and a production conflict between Saudi Arabia and Russia in early 2020 drove down oil prices considerably. As a result, as of June 2020, the future levels of oil production in Africa and around the world were unknown.

Here are 6 privately owned refineries in Africa

The Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR)

The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, ENPPI, PETROJET, and Suez Canal Bank control the Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR), which is located in Alexandria, Egypt and was completed in 2002. It has a 100,000-b/d capacity and includes a 35,000-b/d Hydrocracker, a 22,800-b/d Coker, and a 10,700-b/d Isomerization unit. This is the only privately owned refinery in Egypt. It began as a joint Egyptian-Israeli venture, but in 2001, the Israeli stockholders surrendered their shares to the Egyptian National Bank.  

The project is currently undergoing an expansion that would increase its current 100,000 bpd capacity by 60% to 160,000 bpd, making it Africa’s fifth largest and largest.

Total Fina Petroleos de Angola

The Group’s roots in Angola may be traced back to the late 1920s when Petrofina entered the distribution business in order to sell products made in Romania. Petrofina got its first concession in the Benfica region in 1953, marking the Group’s entry into exploration.

Since 1953, the firm has been the country’s largest oil company with a production of 45 capacity MB/D. The firm also does other businesses in Angola which includes marketing, trading, shipping, gas, power.

SONARA (Societe Nationale de Raffinage)

Energy is an essential aspect of the Cameroon economy because it is a rising industry with enormous potential. The single crude oil refinery in the country is owned and operated by SONARA (Société Nationale de Raffinage). 

The company, which was founded in 1973, manufactures butane, gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, fuel oil, and distillate. Their products are consumed in the domestic market and exported to international markets, with a capacity of approximately two million tons per year.

Natref

Since its beginnings in 1971, the Natref refinery in Sasolburg has been at the bleeding edge of refining technology. The refinery’s market for heavy fuel oil was limited due to its location inland. As a result, it was built to extract the most value from crude oil and was outfitted with cutting-edge technology. The refinery uses a bottoms upgrading refining process using medium gravity crude oil, which allows the refinery to produce 70% more white product. The Natref Refinery is 36.6 percent owned by TotalEnergies South Africa.

Sasol mining (Pty) Ltd and TotalEnergies Marketing South Africa (Pty) Ltd are partners in the Natref refinery. The firm has a production capacity of 109 MD/D.

Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage SA

Commissioned in 1965 at Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage has the capacity of producing 3.65 million tons/annum and 71.000 bbl/day. The firm produces several products like Butane, Super Unleaded, Kerosene, Jet A1, Gas Oil, Diesel, Distillate Diesel Oil (DDO).

The firm also offers several refining units which includes atmospheric distillation, vacuum distillation, hydrocracker, and two reformers.

Bizerte Refineries 

Bizerete refineries began their productions in 1963 at Zarzouna, in the south of Bizerta, at 62 km from the capital Tunis, Tunisia. The firm has a production capacity of 1.75 million tons/annum and 35,000 bbl/day.

The firm produces gasoil, fuel oil, liquified petroleum gas (LPG), natural gas liquids (NGL), naphtha and paraffin.

Snamproggetti engineering designed and built the refinery which is owned by the Tunisian Refining Industries Company (STIR).

Dangote Refinery

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and owner of the Dangote Group, has staked $9bn to build what would become the largest single-train refinery in the world when completed. The Dangote refinery is an integrated refinery and petrochemical project under development in the Lekki Free Zone of Lagos, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd).  

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