João Lourenço was speaking to the press at the end of his visit to the construction work of the Barra do Dande Ocean Terminal, considering the level of physical execution of this infrastructure, valued at 642 million dollars, to store 580 thousand cubic meters of refined products "satisfactory". of oil.
"We are thinking, perhaps, of opening in November of next year, as it is the month of independence, although, the indications we have received are that the work itself will finish long before November of next year", said João Lorenzo.
The head of state recalled that two large strategic projects in the oil sector "regrettably, before 2017 were simply abandoned", referring to the Barra do Dande Ocean Terminal and the Lobito Refinery, the latter of which work has yet to resume.
"Any one of them is a project of great strategic importance for the country. Because today we are talking about energy security and, to have energy security, it is necessary to have a guarantee of energy production, on the one hand, and to have a large capacity to ' fuel stocking", he stressed.
Work on the Barra do Dande Ocean Terminal began in 2012, but was suspended in 2016, with the Government taking the decision to resume it in 2018.
"After the decision, we still had to wait almost three years. The decision was taken in 2018, but, in fact, this work here began in 2021", stressed the President.
"In relation to the Lobito Refinery, it took longer, but the decision has also been made and (...) in fact, work has already resumed to complete the refinery", he added.
João Lourenço highlighted that the Lobito Refinery will contribute to the export of petroleum derivatives, highlighting that the policy is to export, preferably, refined products, and not crude oil.
"This infrastructure arises, precisely, not only to ensure, let's say, that there is no shortage of refined products for domestic consumption, for the country's consumption, but also to have a greater supply of refined products for export", he said.
The President considered it "incomprehensible" that a country like Angola, "which is the second largest oil producer south of the Sahara, after Nigeria", only has "the old Luanda Refinery, as the only refining unit".
"At a good time, we took the decision to create capacity to refine a good part of the crude oil that we exploit. The Cabinda Refinery will appear, coincidentally also at the end of next year. Around the same time that we will be inaugurating this unit here , we will also be inaugurating the Cabinda Refinery, I believe in December of next year", he indicated.
The Cabinda and Lobito Refineries will also be joined by the Soyo Refineries, which "for various reasons, has not yet started its construction work", according to João Lourenço, expressing the conviction that the work should "start at any moment" .
