A US$600 million oil refinery is planned to be set up in Ndola under a public private partnership (PPP) to compliment Government’s efforts in finding a long-term solution to high fuel prices and shortages.
Bwana Mukubwa Oil Refinery, which will be situated at the Sub-Sahara Gemstone Exchange Industrial park in Ndola, is expected to refine about five million litres of fuel monthly and will reduce the cost of fuel by about 30 percent.
Sub Sahara Gemstone Exchange Industrial park president Phesto Musonda said Bwana Mukubwa Oil Refinery will also create business opportunities for firms that were awarded licenses to explore for oil and in various parts of the country.
Mr Musonda said Bwana Mukubwa Oil Refinery will soon submit a proposal to Government, adding that the firm has been engaging Indeni Petroleum refinery and Tanzania Zambia Mafuta (TAZAMA) on the project.
He said establishing the refinery will take about five years and plans are underway to engage Indeni management to run the facility once complete.
Mr Musonda said in an interview on October 20, that apart from refining crude oil, the firm will produce gas, wax and fertilisers as by products.
He said the country is recording huge investments in the mining, agriculture and tourism sectors adding that adequate and affordable fuel is important if the sectors are to fully develop.
“Fuel plays a major role in any economy and reducing the cost will reduce the cost of doing business…We want to go back to the days when fuel was affordable so that farmers can have diesel for their irrigation system and fuel to easily transport farm produce to the markets,” he said.
Mr Musonda said it is sad that fuel remains expensive in the country and this has imparted negatively on all sectors of the economy.
He however expressed optimism that the Commission of Inquiry Government has set up will help find a lasting solution to the challenges affecting the energy sector.
Mr Musonda also called on Government to fully support the project.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Sata is not gonna support this good news! infact is gonna fire them!!
Yes Fire them Sata lol. The plant should include a bio fuel processing section so we can use sugar cane maize and sorghum produced in the country to make fuel. This will encourage agric in rural areas. we have too much fertile land that is not being used
And where do you grow your food. Reality is needed here
Agreed, never comprimise food production. Massive opportunity for Uni of Z to match up with a an international uni to offer oil industry cources. Keep the knowledge in Zambia!
MMD at work!
Why let the management of the troubled Indeni to run the facility? Just have experts from Angola to train Zambians to run it and give competition to indeni if you would like prices of oil to go down.
Good idea but lets hope its not just an idea on paper proposed by people who want to be heard. i bet pf govt would support this idea unlike corrupt MMD failed.
Mr Musonda must have waited for the commission of inquiry to finish their findings and recommendations. We need urgent solutions and not 5 year plans. This annnouncement could have been submited to commission of inquiry as one recommendation.
good proposal…hope the project will be implemented…5PIN per litre of petrol kuti yaba best coz we are already used to buying it at over 8PIN……if this govt implements all its verbal and paper promises it will benefit the underprivileged.
nonsense
Good news,hopes it comes to pass.
i hope the president agrees to this but it should not be swallowed by indeni
Good project ba Musonda keep it up
But Sata said it costs only $8 million, like in angola
:o $600million what are building a space station
DON’T START MAKING MISTAKES OF PILING EVERY DEVELOPMENT IN BIG CITIES (LUSAKA, NDOLA AND KITWE). WHILE NOT TAP CRUDE OIL FROM ANGOLA AND BUILD A REFINERY IN NORTHWESTERN OR WESTERN PROVINCE. THAT WAY HALF OF ZAMBIA WILL BE FED BY INDENI AND THE OTHER HALF BY WESTERN OR NORTHWESTERN PROVINCE AND HENCE SOLVING LOGISTIC PROBLEMS WHILE ALSO NOT PILING EMPLOYMENT ORPPOTUNITIES IN BIG CITIES.
Ninety days is coming closer. Watch !
If its a PPP isnt the government supposed to be saying something about their part?
Is this refinery supposed to replace Indeni or just supplement and by what %?
If the new refinery will be competing with Indeni, we could end up with serious problems if they are sharing the same Tazama pipeline as they will not be moving crude oil stock thru the pipeline at the same pace. Because the two refineries will have different configurations, they will need to process different types of comingled crude oil. Indeni was designed for the 1970s fuel market, skewed heavily towards the mining industry which needed heavy fuel oil for smelting copper. The new refinery will be designed for a different market. We need to be very careful here.
$600 million,inyo ukupapa. We can buy arsenal fc from that figure.Nangu kulyamò?
#16 contd. If the new refinery will sell cheaper fuel, no one will want to buy Indeni fuel. This will cause serious clogging in the system – storage tanks at Dar es Salaam, Tazama pipelines and storage tanks in Ndola terminal. People will only go back to Indeni when stocks finish at the new refinery. But if the new refinery is big enough to supply the whole country, then Indeni will be out of business. If the govt tries to keep Indeni in that situation, then the new refinery will have to operate at under capacity or temporarily shut, which will raise the cost of operating the refinery and hence the fuel prices from that refinery.
The govt need to state clearly what their vision is in this PPP, and the future of Indeni.
This could end in tears.
i think we don’t the 2nd indeni. imwe bantu in case you don’t know paZD we don’t refine oil but just separate it from a mixture of petrol, diesel dirty hydrocarbons. have u wondered why we don’t ve bitumen in the production line. All that we need is to upgrade the old fray indeni to start refining crude oil from all over the world. go to singapore its a hub of petroleum refining they sale finished products. we can the same afterall we have alot of hydopower, cheap labour and an idle pipeline. we can serve US$600
$600m sounds ok for a refinery. Sata said Angola is building one for $8m LOL
Anyway, hope they ahve a good business case for it, otherwise political interference may impinge of them breaking even in Zambia. They can try exports, like to Congo, Zim etc. But Sata’s $8m Angolan refinery could be a serious competitor out there. Even Indeni, if it survives.
Interesting days ahead.
Does BP still bring in fuel from outside? They had big contracts with the mines in them days.
#19 PaZed you are right. Thsi si one reason fuel in Zambia is expensive. They buy crude oil, mix it with condensate, then add petrol, diesel etc and ship it to Indeni for “refining”. Very expensive stuff going into that relic of theirs, teh Indeni refinery. It has passed its best before date.
Anyway, if $600m could buy you a new Indeni, I would recommend pulling down the current refinery and build a new one. It will be more economical. Like buying a new car can be more economical than maintaining the old one.
What technology will this new refinery use? If it can cheaply process all oils – including Angolan oil – then we can afford to have a go. Otherwise, watch the likes of this Musonda carefully. How much, of the 600 million dollars, is Subsahara Exchange Industrial Park investing anyway?
Good idea ,so MMD had such nice empowering PROGRAMMES IN THE PIPE DREAM
Viva MMD for the project.
Hehehe from8-600million$,ba sata bakasumina??
Who’s this Musonda announcing such news to the world? Where’s our govt?
:x
Angola’s second oil refinery which is located in the coastal city of Lobito was constructed by Samsung of South Korea with a capacity to process 200, 000 barrels per day at a cost of $3.5 Billion (US). It was completed in 2010. I wonder where Mr. Sata got his figure of $8 Million. You can’t even build a makeshift refinery for $8 Million. The $600 Million quoted for the proposed refinery in Ndola is more realistic.
Its been well over 2 year since the announcement of the new refinery…where do things stand now? $600 million will build you a very small, simple refinery…one that might give you petrol, diesel and reisdue (bitumen)….and perhaps the facilities to clean up the diesel afterwards (hydroprocessing…needed for new cars otherwise the entire engine system will fail)…if they do it right, this is a brilliant idea…to cut costs, it unfortunately needs to be close enough to the crude oil supply, hence Ndola!
That’s not a good idea to construct a new refinery but as the government has to maintain the current Indeni that’s so.