The Brazilian company said in a statement that, after winning the international public tender launched by Sonangol in January, on Wednesday it signed the contract to build the Barra do Dande Ocean Terminal, on the Atlantic and about 60 kilometers north of Luanda.
According to the OEC statement, the contract includes completion of the Refined Products Storage Park and construction of a dock for ships, "infrastructure considered essential for expansion of import, export and storage capacity of oil derivatives," in the country.
The Brazilian public works construction company explained that the maritime terminal will be the largest storage park in Angola, with an area equivalent to 22 soccer fields, and that it is a priority for the African country's economy because it will significantly increase its exports.
The storage park will have capacity for 580,000 cubic meters of liquid fuels (gasoline and diesel) and 102,000 cubic meters of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The OEC added that it will start construction this month and that the project will generate around 3,500 direct jobs.
Quoted in a statement, the OEC's managing director for Africa, Marcus Azeredo, said that the victory was secured in a bidding process disputed by eight large companies with global operations and that the Brazilian company's engineering project won because it specializes exactly in this type of work.
According to the statement, the OEC has been operating in Angola since 1984, when it was awarded the contract to build the Capanda hydroelectric plant, with capacity to generate 520 megawatts of power.
The Brazilian company is also responsible in the African country for the Lauca hydroelectric plant, a project that is yet to be concluded and which includes work on homes, freeways and pipelines, and for construction of the Cabinda refinery, whose US$920 million contract was awarded in March.
The OEC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novocor (Odebrecht's new trade name) and currently offers services in the construction and engineering segments in Brazil, Angola, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic.
