South Sudan’s Ministry of Petroleum has announced that it expects a US engineering company to complete the Thiangrial refinery by mid-next year.
The mini-refinery was commissioned last year after meetings of the country’s national security council, which sought ways of weaning the country off export dependence through Sudan.
Ventech Engineers International is building the refinery in Melut County of Upper Nile State, with financing from Frontiers Resources. “The work is ongoing at the site. The engineering and fabrication of equipment is ongoing in Houston Texas, USA,” the ministry disclosed yesterday.
“Some tools and materials arrived early August this year and we anticipate the arrival of the major equipment around November to the site and by February 2014, we expect all the equipment to be on the site after which the installation will be completed in three months after that,” stated a press release from the ministry.
However, the ministry acknowledged a delay in the project implementation caused in part by “long stopping of shipping vessels overseas which led to equipment being delayed from reaching South Sudan before the rainy season.”
Thiangrial refinery will use Dar Blend crude oil from blocks 3/7 oil fields with initial capacity expected to be 10,000 barrels per day. Diesel will constitute about 30% of output from the refinery and heavy fuel oil for a power plant another 57%.
Another refinery is under construction in Bentiu, Unity State, by Safinat Russia as a joint venture project between Safinat and Nilepet. Its capacity will be 5,000 barrels per day.
Although heavy equipment for the refinery has been stranded in Mayom and Abiemnhom counties owing to heavy rains, the ministry reassured yesterday that the project will be “completed in due time.”
“The hauling of all the material needed for construction site will be underway once the rains stops and the road to the refinery is dry and passable. It will take two to three weeks after full hauling before the refinery is commissioned.”