By Piet van Niekerk
IN yet another boost for Coega, an international company wants to build a multi-billion rand oil refinery at the deep water harbour.
Negotiations are under way and a team of international oil, gas and logistical engineers are in Port Elizabeth for an official announcement today of a pre-feasibility study on the project.
Experts said yesterday that a refinery of this nature could cost up to R21-billion to build, but would make good business sense because crude oil from Nigeria and Angola was being shipped to the Americas to be refined before it was shipped to the East.
Representatives of the Rio de Janeiro and Japanese-based company K.Inada were silent about the announcement, but the firm‘s chief executive officer, Alfredo Kaiichi Inada, said the announcement followed two years of talks.
It also came after the signing of agreements with Port Elizabeth-based black empowerment company Bidevco, which is involved in cargo, storage, crude oil and general trade. Inada said talks with Bidevco had started in Rio de Janeiro two years ago and had been followed up with several visits to Port Elizabeth.
Although not prepared to link the refinery directly to Coega, he admitted that the deep water port made the Industrial Development Zone strategically one of the best places to build a refinery.
“This is a study to investigate the viability of a model we have developed over the past two years. It will take at least four to five months to finish,” Inada said.
He said they would talk to government agencies, study legislation, community needs, environmental practices, local and international needs as well as supply markets of crude oil and markets for the offset of refined products before decisions could be taken.
Time frames would be subject to information gathered from the feasibility study.
One of the team members, Luis Gomes Barroso, an oil and gas engineer, said any refinery would have to conform to the best international standards, keeping in mind environmental needs.
Inada stressed that the initiative would not “in the least” impact on local petroleum operations.
“This is focused on international needs. It is the rest of the world, particularly the East, which needs the bi-products of a refinery. But we will also look at opportunities for local entrepreneurs.”
Today‘s announcement takes place at 4pm at Coega Development Corporation in Humewood.