A South Sudan's oil marketing firm said on Wednesday it plans to set up about 8.2 billion South Sudanese pounds (about 500 million U.S. dollars) crude oil refinery in Paloch oilfield to serve the region with refined petroleum products.
Robert Eric Mdeza, chief executive officer of Trinity Energy, a company specializing in petroleum products and related services, said that the plan is to produce a 40,000 barrels per day scalable factory in Paloch.
"The idea is to build a scalable refinery that will eventually reach the size of 40,000 barrels per day. That is our plan," Mdeza said on Monday.
Mdeza revealed that the firm controls about 40 percent of the country's oil market, and noted that the company plans also to build a 50 million liter storage capacity of refined products along Juba-Bahr-el-Ghazal highway.
He said the initial purpose of installing the refinery in Paloch, located in the oil-rich Upper Nile region, is to reduce the cost of crude oil transport.
"So we have the source, we will refine it right near the sources, and from there we will find the market. One market is obvious is South Sudan, next door is Ethiopia, Sudan and the surrounding countries are the potential market," he said.
Mdeza said the company would seek ways to partner with banks to finance the construction of the project, adding that it will be a combination of a loan and a company investment.
He said the 40,000 barrel per day refinery will supply the east African region with refined petroleum by-products.
Editor: Galia
